The Case of the Counterfeit Curses
by Stretch Snodgrass
Summary: Ethan recounts the worst weeks of his life: identifying and tracking down the culprit behind the counterfeit curses aimed at him and his friends. Last in a series that began with "The End of the Beginning". Reviews appreciated.
1. Ethan-Vision

**The Case of the Counterfeit Curses**

 **Ethan-Vision**

Ethan Morgan here.

If you're reading this, you might be wondering why I'm writing out this particular adventure in full. And why I'm going into all this detail. After all, we, Team SaBRE, have only ever wrote out short reports of our fights with monsters . . . just to keep track of how we defeated them.

I mean, take the siren we fought at the talent show. I thought we needed to remember exactly how we made her jealous, and reversed the sound waves of her song right back at her. You know, just in case we ever ran into another.

But this battle is different. I'm writing a novel-length account. Well, speaking into the mike on my voice dictation program while chillin' in my room, but same difference.

I'm calling this _The Case of the Counterfeit Curses_. Bringing rationality into the supernatural.

I'm spending a Friday morning in December, and just not any Friday morning but the first snow-day this year doing this. Why? For weeks now, the adventure's been giving me nightmares. I'm know I'm whining (after all it was nothing compared to the one-year and nine months of being a vamp that Sarah went through). But I went through what was for me torture. For anyone who hasn't dealt with the supernatural . . . at least the evil supernatural . . . it would be worse. Imagine not being able to . . . well, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Well, first things first. I was going to play video games with Benny today, but Benny thinks a snow day's for sleeping in until noon. As for Rory, well the snow's heavy and wet so he's out making a snowman with his puppy Krypto. You'd think a 16 year old guy was too old for that (too old for anything but tobogganing, tobogganing that's still cool!), but that's Rory for you.

I'll be going over to Sarah's tonight, to say goodbye before she leaves. They expect the snow to be over and the roads to be cleared by then. More on that later. But right now Sarah's relaxing by the fire in her living room catching up on some reading. We were just talking.

Okay, back to this adventure. It's the worst that I've faced PERSONALLY. I mean for me. Way worse than being tortured by Coach Ed, spending a couple days as a werewolf, framed by a possessed car, even my Toronto battle-to-the-death with three very old and very angry vamps.

It's tough to say what was the worst overall. It's a matter of opinion. Like asking someone their favourite Star Wars character. Is it Obi-Wan Kenobi (mine), Hans Solo (Benny's) or Yoda (Rory's)? Or even someone like Luke Skywalker or Chewbacca?

Man, but I think that our worst adventure overall was the very first! That was the one that made Sarah, Rory and Erica vampires to begin with (for one-year nine-months, but it looked like forever back then). We also lost several of Sarah's Dusker friends to the vamps. On the plus side, we defeated Jesse's plan to bring back his un-dead pals from his Reverend Black days. And how can I forget that's how I came to be friends with Sarah!

A close second for worst was Jesse's return. We were completely pawned. Jesse got what he wanted in making Sarah a full vamp. Third worst, Hottie-ho-tep, who tried to give Sarah his special tea. In fact, as far as villains go he may have been even worse than Jesse! But no one believes me on that!

Most awesome adventure, no question, was the Lucifractor. It started out crappy, make no mistake. Stern in complete control. Benny hypnotized. Me, seeing everyone as a corpse. But, man, how it ended when I tricked Stern into detonating the lucifractor! Sarah, Rory and Erica cured! Sarah and me girlfriend and boyfriend! Vampire council building, powder! Anastasia, dead! Jesse, dead! Every other vampire in Whitechapel exiled and unable to come back.

How did my friends (okay, friends and Erica) get cured? Well, when Jesse told me vampires need dark energy to survive, he was wrong. The vampire's CURSE needs dark energy to survive. When the lucifractor's power was concentrated on a vamp, it acted like a laser beam. It destroyed the vamp along with the dark energy. But with the explosion, it actually sent out a shock wave that destroyed all the dark energy in the area without destroying the vamps. The blast just knocked them out, while starving them of the dark energy that their curse ran on. That's what happened to Sarah. By the time she recovered consciousness, she was as fully and permanently human as if Jesse had never bitten her in the first place.

Because once dispersed, dark energy takes a few YEARS to rebuild, any vamp going into Whitechapel gets slowly starved of dark energy and cured. That's what happened to Rory and Erica. A couple days later, Benny and I gave Rory a demonstration on all he needn't to know about vamps that he didn't know before. Now Rory likes the idea of being a vamp as much as Benny, me or Sarah. That is, not at all! It's not too surprising when you remember Rory was always, like me, a sci-fi geek (a crazy sci-fi geek in Rory's case, but Rory's insane in a good way) and was making fun of _Dusk_ just hours before he got invited to the wrong party

Erica was harder. At first, she wanted to be a vamp so badly she was going to run away to find one to bite her again. But a vision told me the fracking creep she had in mind was going to drain her dead (as for that vamp creep, he died after losing his arm to vengeful ghosts - friends of Benny, Rory and me - and being personally staked by me. But that's a long story).

Erica wouldn't believe me. In fact, I had to make a bargain with her. When she's 21, I promised to trade a pint or about 500mL of my blood to those bloodsuckers who run the phony blood-drive. In return they bite her again and turn her into a vampire. Erica, for her part, promises not to prey on anyone in Whitechapel, not to turn anyone in Whitechapel into a vamp, and not to encourage anyone in Whitechapel to become a vamp. Those conditions weren't only to protect the town, but Sarah and Rory.

As for everyone else but Erica, we're officially dedicated to protecting Whitechapel from supernatural evil in all its forms. Supernatural evil, because good supernatural phenomenon (like the spell-master powers Benny inherited from his grandmother) don't need to be fought. As for ordinary evil, we'll fight it when we can but at least, here, we have the police on that job. We even have a team name now, Team SaBRE. As in light sabre. It's also an acronym. SArah, Benny, Rory and Ethan. Sarah definitely deserves to be first. If you're thinking it's unfair I'm last . . . you're right. But we went with the Canadian spelling for SAbre.

But . . . the end-result was Team Sabre fought well and good. We crushed a Yeti. Even without Sarah; Benny, Rory and I managed to take down a few vengeful bloodsuckers when were staying with Benny's mom in Toronto. With Sarah, and even with Erica along, we dispatched a "murder" of angry gremlins. And then . . . nothing.

For several weeks everything was normal. Well, Benny practised his magic but didn't cause any major havoc. My "expanded" seer powers were under my control.

In fact, everything was cool. For me, taking Math, Physics, Computer Programming and Biology together, in one semester, was awesome.

(Benny claims our math teacher, Ms. Steele, makes Stern look like Mr. G. Benny has a point, discipline wise. But Benny shut-up when I told him Ms. Steel hadn't yet put him in a magical trance or tried to shoot fire-balls at me)

Benny and Rory are in all my classes, which is cool. Sarah's a year older, so she's in none. Which sucks, but what're you going to do?

That's okay as I'm used to it and it hasn't meant any trouble. We've hung-out a lot, I even went with Sarah to a Halloween party a pal in the Mathletes threw (I don't need to repeat what happened at my party last year). Is it ever cool going to a party with your girlfriend!

Benny took Della. Would you believe I fixed the two of them up? Sort-of. With, uh, encouragement from Benny, advice from Sarah and a major assist by Rory.

Della was in shock for well over a year over the incident with her dog Puffles, and the demon that possessed Puffles' revived body. A type of PTSD. Della went to counseling, and had it all explained away. But that's what normally happens to people who face trauma. I guess one of the "gifts" that comes with being a seer is bouncing back from things like that. It doesn't explain . . . I'll get to that later, but for now back to Della.

Della's dad is one of my dad's most important clients. A little detective work, and I, uh, copied the number from my dad's cell and gave it to Benny to call Della at home. The old-school landline number. But by Benny timing his call just right, Della was the only one home to answer. Benny agreed to meet Della at the dog-park on a Saturday morning. He told her he had to walk his friend's dog. Benny'd meet her and PJ at the park.

The dog was Rory's major assist. Lending Krypto to Benny. I won't go over how much Rory didn't want to lend his puppy out, even for one morning. Rory thinks lending out a pet is insulting to the dog. Weird. But Rory finally gave in and agreed.

Sarah's advice was good, and it was given direct to Benny.

"You can't be a jerk" Sarah said bluntly. "Don't follow the advice in Be A Man magazine. Try to be yourself . . . but just try not to act like jerk."

Benny and Krypto met Della and PJ ("Puffles Junior") at the dog park. Benny wasn't a jerk, and the two hit it off. They went to a movie, they went to the Halloween party and then they double-dated with us for dinner at a restaurant.

That's where "disaster struck", as they say. And I'll never forget when. Saturday, November 2 at 7:16 pm.

 **Author's Note**

This chapter details some of the events that occurred in previous stories in this series. In order, the stories are; "The End of the Beginning", "Ethan to the Future", "Good versus Evil or Some Assembly Required", "Busman's Holiday" and "The Attack of the Gremlins".

This story is the last in this series. Thanks for reading. Reviews appreciated.


	2. AI: Awesome Interrupted

**AI: Awesome Interrupted**

"Erica always dreamed of us going on a double-date, hanging out with a couple of cute guys" said Sarah, while we were talking at her locker one day. "But it didn't work out."

Sarah was disappointed. She seemed to have really liked the idea. A double-date. But the whole double-date with her "BFF" never worked. First, Erica couldn't get a date as Erica Version 1.0. The original, kind, geeky Erica. I wonder if Benny or Rory would have had any luck if Erica hadn't run into . . . forget it. As for Erica 2.0, the bloodsucker, Sarah hadn't any interest in going on a "vampire double date". Given that's often how vampires get their food, I'm not surprised.

And now? Erica de-vamped, Erica 3.0, is unbelievably bitter about Sarah and my dating. She seems to think it's a crime against nature! I don't get it. Even Sarah's dad likes me now! Then again, I did get it. Erica 2.0 tricked me into taking Sarah to the vampire restaurant where she worked. Man, I'll never forget that as long as live. Forgive, but not forget!

Yet, the double-date idea lived on in a different form. Sarah and me, Benny and Della. First reason was I thought it would be a cool thing to do for Sarah; Della's joined the yearbook committee so they know each other. Second, I really wanted to have another dinner date with Sarah, after our first was sabotaged by Erica. Again, forgive but not forget.

Third, a Mexican restaurant ( _Casa de Ajo_ ) opened in town, and Benny's grandmother had won some two for one meal coupons at Bingo. Also some coupons for free appetizers, which meant loaded nachos. The coupons were only good for dinner in the first week of November, and the restaurant was a full service, table-clothed place. Like Gus' (the vampire restauranteur) vampire place, but not after its customer's blood. Okay, I'll stop mentioning the vampire restaurant. I promise!

"Hot chicks, awesome food" Benny said. "What more could a guy want? And dude, we'd better get there before Rory tries to get me to give these coupons to him."

"He will" I joked. "As soon as Rory finds out _Casa de Ajo_ means House of Garlic in English, you won't be able to keep him away."

Benny and me are like Hans Solo and Chewbacca, Kirk and Spock, Apollo and Starbuck (in the original _Battlestar Galactica_ ) . . . but I guess deep-down I didn't really want to waste the night on a double-date.

Which is weird since I wanted to invite Sarah on our "guy trip" to Toronto a few months ago. But here's why. Sarah and I hang out with Benny and (usually) Rory on Friday nights. So it was just Mom and Dad's date night . . . or really, anytime in the student's lounge.

Still, Sarah thought I was sweet for thinking of her. It was just too bad Erica decided to criticize the idea.

"You can't seriously be going with Ethan, Della and Benny on a geek date" Erica scoffed. "I'd invite you and Ethan to go with Tom and me, but, you know, it's . . . a date. You can't invite geeks when you want to do something romantic."

But my date turned out to be cool. More fun than "romantic", but still awesome. Especially with me doing the driving. Just two weeks before I passed my G1 exit-test. I'm a fully licenced G2 driver, able to drive anywhere I want on my own as long as I don't drive between midnight and six am without more than one passenger under nineteen. But . . . you get the point.

A man, driving his (dad's) jeep, with his girlfriend and his best friend and his bestfriend's girl. Who says we're not cool?

And as for romantic. When you're with Sarah, in those tight jeans and shirts she wears . . . don't get me wrong! There's a lot more about Sarah that makes her awesome than how she looks! Smart, nice, with a heart that's pure! But, man, she is a hot chick too!

We were at the _Casa de Ajo_ at about seven o'clock. We were in a booth, we had the loaded nachos (beef, cheese and sour cream) and were talking and joking around. Sarah had _Coca Cola_ , Della had diet coke, Benny had root beer. I like _Coca Cola,_ but root beer's my favourite. I went with _Coca Cola_ to show Sarah how much we have in common.

Since Benny recovered his "forever flask" from Stern, he's been taking it everywhere with him. But because he wanted to look good in front of Della, he ordered the root beer instead of just pulling out the flask.

Krypto and Della's dog Puffles II had got along well at the park . . . in spite of the fact Krypto was a Lab retriever pup and Puffles II was one of those toy dogs, the type girls really like while us guys usually like the bigger breeds. Even us geeks.

Benny was telling Della about how much he liked dogs. Which is true, in that Benny likes dogs, and is okay with cats. But that's like asking me if I'm better at football or at baseball.

Benny said he'd have a dog of his own, if his grandmother wasn't allergic. Which isn't true. Sarah wasn't going to let this slide.

"You must mean your grandmother in Toronto" Sarah replied casually. "I thought Evelyn Weir loved dogs. Maybe you can talk to her again."

"My parents never thought I could handle a pet" muttered Benny. "When I was seven, I kept losing my _Tamagotchi_ because I didn't feed it. The thing was _so_ boring."

When we were seven, _Tamogotchi's_ were a huge thing at our school. I had one. But I also had my pet turtle, so I never took the game too seriously. At least, I thought I didn't. I mean, I took care of it, but I didn't think that . . . .

"Dude, a _Tamagotchi_ isn't like a real pet' I laughed.

"A . . . what?" said Sarah.

Della after a moment's confusion, remembered what a _Tamagotchi_ was and explained it to Sarah. Sarah had heard of them, she had just forgot the name. They both laughed.

Benny gave a clone of one of my own "shooting-imaginary-laser-beams-out-of-my-eyes" glares.

"It's easy for Ethan to say" Benny retorted, with a smirk for Della. " _And he looked after his Tamagotchi as if it were real._ The dude was so _obsessed_ he carried it to school. He was sent to the principal when it went off in class. And eight years ago, no one in Grade 2 had a cell so it really stood out!"

Della laughed.

"The dude was _dedicated_ " Benny continued. "His _Tamagotchi_ died of old age four times before he stopped playing with it."

"That's . . . not funny" said Della, who stopped laughing and now had tears in her eyes. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"You're thinking of the first Puffles" groaned Benny. "It's okay! A _Tamagotchi_ isn't a dog. It's real lame."

"Della, it's only a hand-held game for little kids" Sarah said.

"It dies after you play long enough and if you don't pause time" I added helpfully.

But Della was gone, and off to the women's washroom.

"I guess she's not over seeing Puffle's dog collar in her pasta sauce" said Benny grimly.

"Or demon-possessed Puffles" I added.

"I think she'll be better in a few minutes" said Sarah, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'll just remind her that Puffles had a happy life with his loving owner. It's just lucky you were dealing with a demon-possessed dog instead of a demon-possessed person."

"She'd be completely helpless then" I said bluntly. "It's a good thing that after two-years we're become awesome at fighting monsters."

"We're pros" said Benny.

"Pro's who've depended on me to do most of the monster-butt kicking" Sarah pointed out casually. "Tell the waitress, if she comes, that I'll have the Chicken Burrito and Mexican Salad" she added, putting her hand on my shoulder before leaving.

"That's cool" Benny said, as he gazed at the menu. "I was afraid she'd ordered something like steak"

"What about Della?" I asked.

"Della won't mind if I order something for her" Benny said confidently. " _Be A Man_ magazine advises to take charge if you take a girl out to a sit-down restaurant. Babes love it."

"I hope you love Della tossing nachos in your face" I said sarcastically.

Benny was going to reply, but it was then 7:16 pm.

It's hard to describe what happens to me when I have a vision. I just . . . see things. Mostly, when I touch something . . . but lately I've had more power and more control.

Well, I went into my vision-mode, if you can call it that. Vision-mode, but without a vision. The restaurant, the booth, the nachos, Benny, seemed to fade from view at once. I saw static. Just static. Then I had the feeling you get if you're suddenly hit by a cold gust of wind. I should point out it was 13 degrees Celsius (or 55 Fahrenheit) outside, so warm for that time of year. And finally, a electric shock.

Sarah had a bad electric shock as a vamp, when she was fighting the mad gym coach who was trying to put my brain in Jockenstein. One that could have killed her if she was human at the time - I say could have because 70% of people survive lightning strikes.

This must have felt something like that, as the shock jolted every muscle in my body to the point where my teeth started clattering.

When it was over, I had to shake my head. The other diners in the restaurants hadn't noticed a thing. My hair wasn't standing on end, it was in the same, cool _Battlestar Galactica_ style it always was.

"Ow, dude, my head" said Benny.

Benny had gone through something similar, but the shock must have really hit his head as he was still wincing.

"What the heck was that?" I said.

"More like what the frack" Benny joked. "Heck isn't strong enough."

"If it was something supernatural, I would have had a real vision by now" I reasoned to myself. "So it must have been something natural."

There was the problem! The place was lit by wall-lamps. One of the lightbulbs shining on the booth was loose and flickering. The wall-lamps, they were shaped like flowers with the bulbs being the centre. It was one of those LED bulbs that imitate the old-school incandescent. I tightened it.

"Just a bad case of static, Ethan" said Benny. "Man, I feel like puking."

"I feel as if I've had four cups of coffee" I replied. "It was bad, but now I feel awesome . . . where's Sarah!"

I started to drum on the table with my fingers . . . that's something I never do. I realized it and stopped. It was only then I became suspicious.

"Static shouldn't feel like that" I said. "And how was it that lightbulb was suddenly loose? We should have realized it."

"Buddy, relax" said Benny, who continued to wince from the blow. "We can't let a shock distract us from our girlfriends . . . isn't it cool, our girlfriends? Besides, it couldn't be anything if you feel awesome.

A moment later, Sarah and Della returned from the washroom. Della's eyes were red . . . she had really, really loved Puffles.

"Just remember the good times" said Sarah, as Della sat down.

"I will" said Della, sniffing a little. "Benny, you must think I'm a case."

"No way, Della" said Benny. " _Everybody_ always says how sensitive and caring I am about these things."

I didn't say anything, but I think Sarah joined me in grinning at the idea of the "sensitive and caring" Benny.

I looked at the menu. I had been going to order the king-sized pork burrito, but then I read something I couldn't get it out of my mind. My mouth even started to water, so much that I took some gulps of cola so Sarah wouldn't notice.

I ended up ordering _Carne Apache_ tacos. Ground, raw, tenderloin steaks in tacos. I couldn't figure out why I was dying to try raw meat. I don't even like eating steak rare.

"I don't picture you as the raw-meat type" said Sarah.

"I'm not" I said. "I just . . . feel like it. I just feel like it."

At the time, I thought my sudden interest in raw steak tacos was something due being a seer's. Yeah, my seer power picking out the type of food I wanted. How could I have been so stupid? I'm the one who's supposed to be paranoid about the supernatural.

Too bad with Sarah back, the strange shock had slipped my mind. And I was feeling really good. It was all I could do to stop from stuffing-down the raw steak and hard-corn shells.

Sarah had a Chicken Burrito and Mexican Salad. Della recovered from her cry with three soft-shelled vegetarian tacos.

As for Benny, he ordered tacos de sesos. Tacos stuffed with beef brains. He ate each one in a couple bites, then paid for seconds.

That was the only the start of the counterfeit curses, and it's the only part of the story that can be told by me alone.

I've had a call from Benny just now. He talked to his grandmother. I've been as troubled about this adventure as Della was about Puffles. Mrs. Weir believes she can use a memory spell that would help me review the events as a movie, transcribe them as I intended, and finally feel better.

So, if you're reading this after-the-fact, you won't hear directly from me until the end.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Thanks for reading. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble writing in the first-person. As a result, the story will switch to third-person until the last chapter.


	3. Musetronics

**Musetronics**

In spite of the mysterious shock, Ethan's date with Sarah went awesome. Down to the good night kiss, and even Sarah's dad inviting him into the house. But why Ethan had gone for the raw steak tacos, the teenager couldn't understand.

But, in the end, Ethan naturally thought that trying something new was cool instead of the same old, same old all the time.

A little more surprisingly, Benny's date with Della also went well, even after Della had once again been inadvertently reminded of her beloved Puffles. The first Puffles, at any rate. Benny, who thought the idea of his eating beef brains was cool, figured that he came off as _both_ a cool and caring guy. It was only too bad the _Casa de Ajo_ cost _waaaay_ too much to show off every day.

Ethan's Sunday promised more awesome. And it was spelt in one word. _Musetronics_.

* * *

In most schools, the Grade 9 dance was in September. But at Whitechapel High, the Grade 9 dance was the end of November. Why? Some weird reason forgotten to time, but not supernatural one hoped. More importantly, the student council's dance committee picked _Musetronics_ as the entertainment. Ethan, Benny and Rory had, after all, won the talent show the year before. What could be cooler than being the band for a school dance? And it paid too!

Unbeknownst to Ethan, Benny and Rory, the student council had blown their budget on their homecoming dance the week before. This was all the more pathetic as Whitechapel High had been knocked out after the first game of the football playoffs! But, the Grade 9 dance, was, after all, only for Grade 9 students. And who the liked the newbs?

Besides the teachers and Principal Hicks.

Sarah thought the idea that every student past the "freshman" year should hate the freshmen dumb. Or, at least, pretend to. Sarah hadn't thought much of the idea when Erica was initiating the Grade 9 "babies" the last year.

Erica truly disliked the newbs . . . but she daydreamed where they booed Ethan and his "geek posse" off the stage. Maybe throw garbage and toilet paper rolls at them for good measure (rotten tomatoes were so old school).

After a bit of unexpected generosity from Ethan a month before, Erica wasn't _actively_ hostile to the seer. But she still held a large grudge against the boy who _ruined everything_ for her.

So Erica was encouraged when she overheard a three newbs talking about the geeks not too far from her locker. At least Erica was encouraged . . . at first.

"I can't believe they're going to have a band of geeks playing for us" said a Grade 9 girl.

"You know who they are?" said the second girl.

"Some Grade 11 guy named Ethan Morgan" said the first. "He's this nerd on the school paper. He friends with this tall geek named Benny, who's a complete nobody. And this hyperactive dork named Rory, you know the joiner who no-one wants to join them. I don't think I'll go."

The first girl laughed.

Erica gave an wicked leer into her locker.

"Then how is it this guy Ethan has his name on the wrestling trophy" said the third girl. "Casey told me he beat this massive guy named Kurt Lochner. Ethan and this Benny were on the hockey team last year as defence behind the star player . . . until the coach disappeared and the team had to be disbanded."

"What about Rory?"

"Ever heard of Pranky?" finished the third girl. "He was that guy. You can still see him on his retirement video."

"Still an unbelievable geek" said the first girl. "And Pranky was sooo last year."

"We could do _a lot_ worse than them" said the second girl. "They won the talent contest last year. But I knew they'd give us a crappy band. They always do. What really matter is who we're going to go with . . . and what we're going to do after. BTW, Lana, what's with you and Case . . . ."

Erica gritted her teeth and weighed if her conscious would allow her to badmouth the geeks to the newbs.

Unfortunately, for Erica, her BFF Sarah showed up at that moment. And Sarah had heard the last of the newbs' conservation and deduced the reason for the consternation on Erica's face.

"Angry that the newbs might think Ethan's cool?" Sarah said jokingly to Erica.

"It's not cool to spy on your BFF" Erica said, as she shut her locker door. "And although Ethan might be your boyfriend, you know he's a geek."

"We've been through this" said Sarah impatiently. "So Ethan knows every character in every Star Wars movie? How many geeks fight monsters in their spare-time? How many guys can I actually connect with? How many guys our age are so sincere? He's cool . . . in a geeky-way."

"That makes no sense" said Erica. "Cool in a geeky way? I _would_ tell the newbs exactly how much a geek Ethan was . . . only I like the newbs even less than Ethan."

Erica walked off. The truth was, Erica now had scruples about badmouthing anyone who was going to perform in front of a gym full of newbs. It had been six months since she had so much as met a vampire, let alone been one.

Besides. Even if Erica wasn't feeling slightly more generous, she was unwilling to risk her friendship with Sarah if "Ethan's geek band" had a hostile reception and she was to blame.

* * *

The idea that _Musetronics_ would have anything but a cheering crowd didn't suggest itself to Ethan, Benny or Rory. In their minds, it would only be a repeat of their awesome performance at the talent show last spring . . . although without the siren-butt-kicking action.

Benny was very tired the Sunday afternoon following the double-date. At first, he put it to the cool date he had with Della the night before. It was about time he had a girlfriend! But it was lucky that he had his drums setup already in Ethan's room for practice, as he felt he couldn't carry it over.

Benny then realized he had a cold, maybe a fever.

"It must have been the beef brains" Benny complained to himself. "Why do I always get sick on weekends?"

Benny considered if it was worth it to try to keep the cold for a few days off school, and a few days playing video games in bed. But this was one of those ones where you actually did feel sick, which Benny hated, so it may be best to get one of his grandmother's home remedies?

In spite of himself, Benny slipped into a bad mood, the type of mood one gets when they're fighting sleep and want to be in bed.

A brief "Hi" to Ethan's Mom downstairs, and Benny went upstairs.

* * *

Rory was already there with his three-month old puppy. Benny was annoyed that Rory had beaten him there, given that he, Benny, lived next door.

Ethan had also been irritated. It wasn't being alone with Rory and his puppy. It was that Rory had one _post-vampire_ quirk that was starting to drive Ethan out of his skull. It was Rory's habit of walking into Ethan's house without being invited, without so much as knocking.

Sometime, Ethan thought, he'd have to stop him. Especially since that very day Rory had walked in the Morgan's while they were eating lunch and practically invited himself to have a helping of everything. You could just see the expression on Ethan's dad's face!

Ethan wasn't that pleased either. Ethan was unusually hungry that afternoon, and Rory's eating meant less for him.

But, ultimately, Ethan believed that anyone who had to constantly wait at doors deserved some slack! It was only a couple of months ago that Ethan discovered Rory had to even _wrangle invitations to his own home_ or else burn his hand on the doorknob even if Rory had just used his own key in the lock.

* * *

Rory's puppy Krypto seemed cranky himself. When Benny finally arrived, Krypto sniffed at him, eyed him quizzically, and finally decided to greet him with a friendly yip. The dog then went into the corner to sleep.

"What's with Krypto?" snapped Benny.

"I don't know" said Rory. "He's been like that ever since we got here. I guess he's practising."

"He sniffed at me a good couple of minutes" Ethan said, as he set up his synthesizer. "I had the idea to bark back at him, afterwards he cooled down."

"It was funny" said Rory. "Ethan did a real good imitation. RR-ufff!"

Rory, for his part, still had his MC outfit, the bat-wing necklace, although he "officially" changed his name to MC Rorster from MC Monster Bat.

"I dropped all my bat-themed nicknames, dude" Rory explained to Benny. "So I've got to change my stage-name to reflect that. It would be whacked to still be known as MC Monster Bat now."

"You're the only one who uses any of your nicknames" said Benny, irritably, with a yawn. "Even Rorster. Which might be the _least stupid_. I don't think I've ever heard anyone call you R-dawg or Batman."

Ethan stared at Benny. Usually they didn't point that out to Rory.

"What's with you, buddy?" said Benny at Ethan.

"Nothing" said Ethan. "I've never felt better. Now you're hear, let's choose our music."

Rory wanted to use some more of his own songs. Maybe use the latest _Single Tear_ album. Ethan, convinced of the success of his mathematically-chosen music used last time, thought about reapplying his algorithm to invent more.

Benny yawned, and rested his head on one of his drums as Ethan and Rory argued.

"Rory, we're not going to cover the _Single Tear_ album!" Ethan said. "And we're not going to do an evening of MC Rorster originals either. It's just as bad as Nickle Back."

"Nickle Back" had once blocked all Single Tear downloads online in favour of his own lame music. For Rory, those were fighting words.

"That loser?" said Rory, turning bright red. "We're not going just use your algorithm for all our songs." Rory, swallowing, decided to be a diplomatic. "Dude, it's definitely cool for a few songs. But it's whacked . . . gnarly . . . not to mention really, really boring . . . if we can't make up any music of our own."

"Using algorithms is song writing" Ethan said. "It's just song writing the coolest way imaginable."

"It is!" agreed Benny, who in spite of himself decided to step in. After a couple of yawns. "What's cooler than electronic music? But, if you want to actually _write_ one it ought to be something awesome too. We can put together our songs, come back next week and decide what we want to do."

"That's okay" said Ethan, a bit reluctantly.

"But what about _Single Tear_?" Rory complained.

Krypto whined from his corner.

"We can't Rory" said Ethan, an idea striking him. "Uh . . . copyright issues."

"Yeah" said Rory. "They're really strict about enforcing their rights."

"Another reason to hate them" muttered Benny to himself.

"For the three hours we'll be playing" said Ethan, calculating, "we probably only need about a dozen tracks in rotation."

"Shouldn't we have something like thirty?" Rory objected.

"We can't get thirty in less than four weeks" Ethan said. "Remember, we only have one right now. So a dozen, that make's eleven to learn this month. We can repeat each number three times. And if we mix them up, it'll seem like we're playing more than twelve."

Benny felt sceptical. It was easy for Ethan and Rory . . . they were only using synthesizers. Benny would actually be playing his drums. Twelve songs in a month, besides all the usual school and now Della. And what if a monster showed up? That would be a few days down? And there was also class pictures the same day as the dance. . . .

"What do you think of my idea for photos?" said Rory

"Well, now that Sarah's turned down using our avatars again" said Ethan, slightly disappointed. "I mean, I get what she says about remembering us as who were are instead of our much cooler gamer ID's . . . ."

"It would have been really cool" agreed Rory. "But now I can have my picture taken again, it's time for yet another awesome Rorster yearbook photo. I can't believe I had to use the pre-photo I took of me in my spacesuit for Grade 9."

"It's lucky Hannah let you" said Ethan, with a shrug.

"The resolution on those photo-booths pictures really sucks" yawned Benny.

"And last year was the worst" complained Rory. "You had to pretend to me in my mascot costume. I didn't even get a real place. Just _Rory Keener, the Whitechapel Devil_."

"It was better than nothing" said Ethan.

"I only have two years left for cool photos" Rory went on. "I did _Star Trek_ in Grade 8, I did _Star Wars_ Jedi knight in Grade 7. Before that I did a dinosaur, crocodile hunter, soldier, scare finder, _X-men_ , _Superman_ and _Spiderman_. Grade 9 was a real-life astronaut . . . even with the sucky resolution. Grade 10 was supposed to be the new _Battlestar Galactica_. Now I've got to do choose between the original and re-imagined Battlestar this year. I'm thinking the Colonial Warrior is the coolest. It's like a combination astronaut and wild west laser gunslinger."

"You've got to go with the re-imagined series" said Ethan. "It's the best . . . not with the old school Colonial warrior outfits."

"Original's the best" said Benny, who woke up for this challenge. "Original had . . . ."

That was it for Benny. He yawned, groaned, and put his head through the top of one of his drums.

"Whoa!" said Rory, as his dog Krypto left his corner to looked concernedly (or just curiously) at Benny.

"Are you okay Benny?" said Ethan.

"I am" said Benny, putting his head back and frowning at the burst drum. "Just sick . . . and minus one drum."

"You have that repairing spell" said Rory. "The one that brought Dora Dazzle to life."

"That wasn't the repairing spell" Benny replied.

Whether it was the right spell or not, Ethan inwardly winced at the idea of fighting animated drums running about town draining the life out of people.

"If you can't do it" Ethan observed, "I think Mrs. Weir'll break her rule on using magic for everyday things and do a quick fix. But . . . I guess practice is out for today. You up to some _Zombie Ninjas V_?"

"I just want to go to bed" Benny complained, to the surprise of both Ethan and Rory.

 _It was serious!_

"I'm going home to get my grandma to give me whatever remedy she wants" Benny finally said. "This cold's a drain. Benny's not going to spend the next week sleeping. A morning, okay. But I've had too much to do."

"And Della" Rory reminded him.

"I get a girlfriend and then I get sick" Benny grumbled.

"It's probably just a 24-hour thing" said Ethan. "My sister had one a couple weeks ago."

"I'll see you tomorrow" said Benny, with a shrug. "Even if I have to use the webcam. _Musetronics_ rules!"

Benny gave Ethan and Rory fist bumps as he left.

Ethan started to have a vision. But only started . . . .

The vision itself was as dull as could be. Benny's grandmother, Evelyn Weir, cooking something from a recipe. Probably soup, given the shape of the pot. Yet, the picture was bad, distorted like a tv signal gone bad. Quickly, it was obscured entirely by a heavy wall of static and Ethan was brought back to the real world with a jolt.

"What was it?" asked Rory.

"Nothing" said Ethan. "Benny's just going to have chicken soup."

As for the static? Ethan wondered about that. But stranger things had happened in his visions, in fact stranger things usually happened in his visions . . . so he wasn't too worried at that.

He should have been.


	4. Barking Up The Wrong Tree

**Barking Up The Wrong Tree**

"Sick in bed. Fever. Grandma says no computer" Benny texted Ethan the following morning. Benny then added, "I'm not even allowed to use my cell, just rest and eat some of Grandma's special soup. If I stay sick, my Mom's mom might send me _her_ chicken soup. Just texted Della."

Ethan had guessed Benny wasn't going to be in school. Even if Benny had been better, Ethan knew he wasn't one to let a cold go to "waste".

And if Benny was complaining about not playing video games, how sick could the dude be?

* * *

"He texted you he wasn't allowed to text?" Sarah said to Ethan in the student lounge, a smile on her face.

Sarah, Ethan and Rory were in the student lounge. Erica walking by, heard the conversation about Benny, and atypically decided to sit next to Team Sabre . . . despite her reluctance to hangout with geeks Ethan and Rory during school hours.

"That's Benny" said Ethan.

"That is Benny" observed Erica sarcastically. "I wonder what his grandmother will do if she finds out he's texting when he's not supposed to."

"Last time she turned his cell into a frog" Ethan volunteered. "Benny had to keep it fed until the battery went dead and it turned back."

"Really?" said Sarah. "I would have _loved_ to see it."

"I sort of feel bad for the phone now" added Rory. "After being alive and all. Who'd want to be turned into a smartphone?"

"It wasn't really alive" said Ethan. "Benny explained it to be. Inanimate objects brought magically to life don't have a soul . . . ."

"What's with your voice?" asked Erica impatiently.

In part, Erica was eager to change the subject. Talk about souls usually led to criticism of vampires these days. But, in part, Erica just wanted to know what had happened to Ethan's voice.

"What's the matter with my voice?" asked Ethan.

Rory and Sarah both looked toward Erica.

"It sounds hoarse" Erica replied. "Rougher than last week."

"I didn't notice anything" said Ethan, a little irritably, but he cleared his throat just the same. "I must have over-practised our tunes yesterday."

"Or you're getting Benny's cold" said Sarah. "You sound different, but not much."

"Benny says he got the cold from eating those beef brain tacos" said Rory. " _Not_ contagious."

"I'm definitely not sick" said Ethan, assuredly. "Guys, I feel even better than usual. I mean, how can't I, with all the cool things going on in my life?"

"Including your best friend being sick in bed" Sarah reminded Ethan, although she, like Ethan wasn't overly concerned about Benny home with a cold.

"I'll see Benny this afternoon" Ethan said. "A cold calls for a strong dose of _Zombie Ninjas VI_."

"I thought you'd be taking him his homework" Erica observed.

"Then Ethan wouldn't just be sick, he be dead" joked Rory. "Benny would kill him for bringing him homework. But I'll go with you, dude" Rory added. "If Benny still can't play _Zombie Ninjas VI_ , he can at least watch us."

"Benny likes to watch _other_ people play video games?" Erica asked.

"All three of us do" said Rory defensively. "There's tonnes of _awesome Let's Play_ videos on _Youtube_! Erica, there's every game you can think of."

"I think we'll pass" Sarah said laconically.

Ethan grinned. Unlike Rory, he didn't argue the point. Ethan was getting older, and realized why not everybody liked all the things he did. Ethan even respected and understood why Sarah didn't like to watch video games (although Ethan was still at a loss as to why some people didn't like to play them).

"There's a lot of cooler things than watching _Let's Pla_ y videos" said Ethan truthfully, speaking mostly to Sarah. "Doing's always more fun than watching. The last thing I want to do is spend too much time watching people having a cool time instead of having a cool time myself."

"No argument there" said Sarah. "I'm been thinking of making a bucket list of things I'm going to do or experience."

"That's awesome" said Ethan, excitedly. "What's first . . . ."

Ethan spoke too loudly. Loudly enough so that everyone in the lounge briefly looked in his direction.

"Just because Benny's sick is no reason for you to be as loud as him" said Erica. "I swear you picked up his energy the moment he got sick."

"You mean" said Ethan, "I . . . _stole it from him_?"

"Exactly" said Erica.

The bell rang for classes.

"See you at lunch" said Sarah, kissing Ethan on the cheek.

"Dude" Rory told Ethan. "You have it made."

But Ethan's mind was a million light years away. It had to be, because he barely even felt Sarah's kiss from way, way out in space . . . .

* * *

Erica hadn't been serious in her comment. But the idea of Ethan stealing Benny's energy terrified him just the same.

The events of the last few days played in Ethan's mind. Ethan remembered the strange shock. How Ethan had been left alone with Benny at the time. Then how they had both ordered _unusual_ Mexican foods. Benny had been sick ever since. But it was only when meeting Ethan and Rory for _Musitronics_ rehearsal the day before had Benny become sick in bed.

What did it mean? It meant one thing. Ethan thought he had slowly took control of his new "expanded" seer ability. But what if he was _inadvertently_ stealing power? Say, magical powers from his friend to _feed_ his own? Maybe picking it off Benny's brain waves? Why else would Ethan follow Benny's lead at ordering weird food?

The idea was gross, it was terrifying, it could be deadly! It was also precedented.

* * *

"There was _Debbie Dabble_ " Ethan told Sarah at lunch, next to their lockers. "She drained people's life force to keep her human form. Second. There was that evil tree draining the computers in the lab. Third. In Toronto, those friends we made. Laura, Arthur, Sylvester and Tim. They were ghosts trapped in Flood Manor. They had been turned into ghouls just by being there so long and picking up the ectoplasmic energy of the other victims of Colby Flood. Fourth. You can't forget the salt vampire in the very first episode of _Star Trek_! You know, the _Mantrap_! What if I've become some sort of energy vampire and don't know it? I might be slowly _murdering_ Benny just by draining whatever force makes him a spellmaster?"

Sarah thought the idea of Ethan unconsciously draining Benny's magical powers was ridiculous, but didn't say so. It was Ethan's concern for his friends and any innocent person in general that Sarah found one of his most endearing traits.

"Ethan, you're being paranoid" Sarah said calmly. "Remember, not everything is supernatural. Especially now. With the dark energy drained from town, we go months at a time without there being a monster to fight."

"There's a good chance it's just a cold" Ethan allowed.

"If this could happen" Sarah said, "Mrs. Weir would have warned you about it before now."

"And if I've turned into a vampire" Ethan added, " _any_ kind of vampire, I probably would have realized it."

"Instantly" said Sarah. "Take it from someone who knows."

* * *

Yet the idea continued to bother Ethan. So much so, that when Ethan was assigned to take Benny's homework to him in Rory stead, it was an afterthought.

" _Poor Benny_ " said Della to both Ethan and Rory, when she met them in the hall. "I was looking forward to seeing him today. You have no _idea_ how disappointed I am. You can tell him for me."

"Man, poor Benny!" thought Ethan, who looked at Della surprised. "How long has the dude been waiting for a girl to say something like that to him! Any girl!"

"Cool!" said Rory. "Man, _you_ should tell him that!"

"I was going to go over. But Benny's already texted me that he'd rather not see me sick."

"That sounds funny" said Rory, perplexed.

"You should at text it to him" said Ethan, awkwardly. "He'll like it."

After Della left, Rory looked at Ethan lost. Rory had the look of concentration he had when he gathered his scattered and over-enthusiastic wits.

"How can he turn down his girlfriend coming to his house? Benny must be really sick!"

Ethan didn't answer. The idea of "Ethan the Energy Vampire" haunted him again.

* * *

Some news came shortly before 3:00. Ethan finally received a new text from Benny.

"Ethan. You need to come over after school. Bring Team Sabre. Especially Sarah. Even Rory. But not Della. Don't let her see me right now."

* * *

It was strange how Benny's Victorian home, next door to Ethan's own, seemed so ominous to him that afternoon. The sky was overcast, the temperature a few degrees above freezing. Evelyn's flower garden had gone dormant or been plowed for the year. Even the vintage Ford looked unusually formidable.

Sarah, who was a sharer in Ethan's alarms, put her hand on his shoulder. Was there something strange going on? Sarah wasn't at all a seer, but she noticed that despite the overcast weather there was only one light on in the whole house.

Rory, usually oblivious, felt "creeped-out" and said as much. Rory didn't know why, he was sure Benny wasn't that sick! But Rory did know it had nothing to do with his distaste for bringing Benny homework . . . Ethan had gotten that job!

Ringing the doorbell, the three heard Evelyn's step before they saw her.

"Thank-you dears" she said simply. "With you here, I know we'll win. Whatever happens, remember good is stronger than evil."

This cryptic comment put everyone on edge.

"Then it is supernatural" said Sarah.

"Benny's cold?" asked Rory in surprise.

"Am I stealing his energy?" stated Ethan bluntly.

Evelyn (and Rory) looked at Ethan in surprise, as the three teens entered the house.

"No dear" she said. "Whatever had you say something like . . . I know, you're feeling over-energized?"

"I guess so" said Ethan. "So it had nothing to do with Benny?"

"Everything and nothing" said Evelyn.

"Benny's Grandma, you're as confusing as Yoda today" said Rory, petulantly.

"Then, explain Benny will" said Evelyn, with the a ghost of a smile in the corner of her mouth. "He'll tell you, dear, what's going on. I need to get back to the soup."

"Chicken soup?" asked Ethan.

"Chicken head soup" said Evelyn tersely.

That was what Ethan had seen Evelyn cooking in his last vision. Chicken head soup? Why chicken head soup?

* * *

"Chicken head" Sarah commented as they went upstairs. "I'm almost as happy not to be a spellmaster as I am not to be a vampire."

"She's never made chicken head soup that I can remember" said Ethan. "It must be some magical remedy. Like her special soap."

"I think I'd be instead be sick for awhile and eat regular chicken soup" Rory put in. "As soon as he gets better, though, Benny's never going to be able to laugh at me again for eating too much garlic."

"There's the rats you had to eat" Ethan reminded Rory.

"Yeah, but it was them . . . or human blood" Rory retorted. "Any critter crunched on as a vamp doesn't count."

This conversation cheered the three up. But only for a moment.

Benny's room was smaller than Ethan's or Rory's. His grandmother and father had larger rooms, in spite of Benny's father being usually travelling due to his job. Benny's door was shut tight, so Sarah knocked.

"Come in guys" said Benny, and it sounded like something of a groan.

No video games. Benny was propped up on his pillows looking very pale although not so tired as Sunday. He had been looking at a comic book. It was all very normal . . . except for the fact Benny was wearing sunglasses.

The sunglasses filled Sarah and Rory with fear. They remembered that being turned into a vamp meant _instant_ sensitivity to light.

"Naa!" said Rory. "It's impossible! No dark energy!"

"I'm not a bloodsucker, Rory" said Benny angrily.

"What's with the glasses?" asked Ethan. "We're inside, and there's not any sun today."

Benny looked at the three, from behind his sunglasses. His grandmother has suggested he break the news to them. But she had left it to him how.

Benny removed his shades in one quick move.

Sarah, Rory and Ethan held still, but jumped in their skins.

"Gnar-gnarly" stuttered Rory at last.

Benny's eyeballs were empty, and the same black as dead, gangrenous flesh.

Benny put his glasses back on and, with a weak grin, said "Imagine if Della saw that!"


	5. The Counterfeiter

**The Counterfeiter**

The late afternoon sun shone into Benny's room, giving the teen some actual use of his sunglasses, some actual use besides concealment of his pupil-less eyeballs. Benny had already absorbed his situation (and knew of Ethan's very different problem), but as yet the rest of Team Sabre remained ignorant of the meaning of those dead eyes.

Benny was angry about it. But he was optimistic . . . Benny didn't think it would stop him for long. The thing was to get to work taking them down . . . only thing was Benny was grounded by his grandmother for the next few days. Just to make sure Benny wouldn't be dangerous to himself or anyone else.

"But Ethan's going to panic" Benny thought, as he stared back at his friends as they _still_ stared at him in surprise.

Sarah was the first recover from the shock, while Ethan and Rory were still uselessly gaping.

"What's with your eyes?

"I'm not a bloodsucker" said Benny again, with a deep breath, his not being a vampire being a point of some consolation, "but I'm . . . undead. No pulse, no heartbeat, nothing."

"No way!" said Ethan.

But those black, empty eyes reminded Ethan of something . . . .

"You're breathing" insisted Rory.

"You still need to breath to talk, Rory" Benny retorted. "Buddy, you of all people should know that. Windpipe, vocal cords. But I'm not respirating. It's just habit . . . ."

"That's enough biology" interrupted Sarah. "How did this happen?"

"And how can it _un_ -happen?" said Ethan forcefully, walking up to his best friend and clapping his shoulder. "I swear Benny, we'll undo this if it's the last thing we do!"

Benny looked at Ethan quizzically. "Dude, you . . . ."

Benny changed his mind at the last moment.

". . . have my gratitude, as a Jedi" Benny finished.

Sarah found the way Benny stalled mid-sentence as suspicious. She was just meshing Benny's curious reply to Ethan together with Benny's grandmother's belief that Ethan would be "over-energized", when her thoughts were interrupted.

"I also swear!" Rory said energetically. "Team Sabre will cure you and get back at the Warp-10 . . . no, Warp 18.2 . . . butt-head who did this. The adventures where one or more of us gets turned into a monster is seriously un-cool! I mean, it would be awesome if it were in a movie or on TV, but to have it actually happen to you it's seriously un-cool."

"That's an understatement" Sarah observed. "But, Benny, what exactly happened to you?"

"I recognize that look" said Ethan. "When I was under Stern's spell last spring, seeing everybody dead. They all had vacant eyeballs."

"Like ghouls" said Rory.

"No Rory" said Benny impatiently. "Somebody's put a curse on me. I've been zombified"

Benny said this as if it were blatantly obvious that a person with black, pupil-less eye was a zombie. And if "zombified" was a word used everyday.

"But . . ." started Ethan, "that can't be right. Well, it does explain you going for the brains Saturday night. And the chicken head soup. But . . . zombies are creatures that go after the living in an unthinking, muttering and murdering horde."

"Muttering and murdering horde?" asked Sarah. "Shouldn't it just be murdering?"

"Muttering. It's from the _Zombie Ninjas_ series" Ethan explained. "They mutter as they murder."

"It's way more awesome that way" Benny explained.

"Muttering horde or not" Sarah said, shrugging, "isn't the important thing that it's easy to cure?"

"How?" asked Rory.

"Exposure to cold temperatures" said Ethan.

"I had Grandma try that" said Benny. "I spent two hours lying in our freezer. Not only did it not work, we lost a box of chocolate chip waffles."

"Why didn't it work?" said Sarah.

"It's because of _how_ I was zombified" explained Benny, lifting his sunglasses but lowering them as Ethan and Rory again stared at the empty eyeballs (and Sarah looked politely, but slightly-too-conspicuously, to Benny's left).

Benny, jumped up, demonstrating that, whatever he was, he was no longer tired and weak. This wasn't any reassurance.

" _It happened that way the last time he was a zombie_ " thought Ethan. " _First he was sick, weak and tired. Then he went full zombie and tried to eat my brain . . . I can't believe I'm thinking "the last time he was a zombie_."

Benny removed his magic book from a drawer, lay back on his bed, opened the book and flipped to a page near the back.

"I lost my magic powers" said Benny, with a grimace. "No force in a zombie . . . but I can still look in here."

"I get it" said Rory. "Your going to the back because the book is in alphabetical order. Aardvarks to Zombies."

Everyone else groaned.

"No, but zombies are at the back because creating traditional old-school zombies is serious black magic" said Benny. "Like turning someone inside-out but needing _a lot_ more power. What we fought last time were _Lotta Latte_ 's techno-mutant zombies . . . ."

"Techno-mutant?" said Sarah. "Speak English instead of nerdese."

"Caused by technology" said Ethan. "Nothing magical involved. But I have the feeling coffee zombies are one of those things that usually only happens in this town."

"Magical zombies are real old-school and really, really lame as a monster" said Benny.

Old school zombies didn't sound lame at first, to the others. Zombies were reanimated corpses used as slaves by "seriously evil" spellmasters or witches. Alternatively, they could also be ordinary people magically cursed into being reanimated corpses. As Benny explained it, while vampires were the living dead, the traditional zombie was the walking dead. An unthinking, blindly-obedient slave.  
"In the old days" said Ethan, as he thought intently, "they used to have movies with zombies like those. I saw one of them once, _The Plague of the Zombies_. That was before _The Night of the Living Dead_ made zombies cool."

"To some people" Sarah scoffed.

Benny laughed, but for a different reason. "I can't believe you watched one of those old-school movies" he said. "They're brain-dead. And, dude, you have _no idea_ how useless those magical zombies can be."

Sarah was inclined to remind Benny he was one of those "old-school zombies" given his casual attitude. But she reasoned, it was probably a good thing he was casual about it instead of feeling like Sarah did when she was cursed.

Benny went on to explain exactly why "magical zombies" were incredibly lame. If you were evil enough to make someone or someone's mortal remains your slave, well, you had yourself a zombie. But as a fighter, well they weren't something you could rely on. For one thing, unlike modern zombies, the old-school zombies weren't contagious. They didn't even eat brains! Nor did they even rot away as long as the curse was in effect! And to cure them, the zombies only needed to be fed . . . sugar. The living victims would go back to being properly alive. As for the already dead, their bodies would dutifully return to their graves and dig their way back into their coffins.

"That is _lame_ " echoed Rory.

"I wish being cured of being a vampire had been so easy" Sarah observed dryly. "I would have had the un-dead thing going on for less than a half hour. But why is your grandmother making chicken-head soup if all you need is sugar?"

"Maybe you need some special type?" suggested Rory. "Or a recipe of different sugar mixed together?"

"That's insane" said Ethan. "Don't tell me he needs to choose between maple, brown and white sugar. Or icing sugar or powdered sugar."

"I forgot you aced that cooking class you and Benny took last year" muttered Rory.

"I wish it was as easy as maple sugar" Benny complained. "But whoever made this curse, turned me into a mutant zombie."

"Not so much a mutant curse" said Benny's grandmother Evelyn as she entered the room. "It's better described as a counterfeit zombie curse. An imitation of the genuine article."

Evelyn arrived carrying a large tureen of the chicken's head soup, and four bowls.

"I think I'll pass Mrs. Weir" said Sarah, putting up a hand. "I'm not into chicken brains."

"I have some fresh noodles in it" said Evelyn assuredly. "I won't even give you a head. But this is a delicacy in Thailand. And, Rory, there's plenty of fresh garlic in it."

Sarah took some, again to be polite. She owed a lot to Mrs. Weir. And the chance the soup itself was some sort of curse . . . _nil_.

"As long as it's _human_ food" said Rory, rethinking his opposition after the promise of his favourite vegetable. "It might be cool to try."

Rory took one head. Rory looked at its broiled beak cross-eyed before finally eating the soup, noodles. Eventually, Rory tried to chew on the chicken's head. It was difficult, but Rory thought it was cool . . . mainly due to its complete grossness. Still, Rory found it hard to believe, and really sick, that he had once liked to eat pigeons whole.

Benny for his part, had his soup bowl filled to the brim with chicken heads. He was able to chew up the heads in one bite, but kept quiet about how nourishing and savoury the oozing brains were as they went down. He thought it was sort of embarrassing! And it took _a lot_ to embarrass Benny!

Benny and his grandmother agreed, partly for convenience and partly due to pride, that he'd keep alive on human foods . . . ones that would be appetizing to zombies. Besides that, cannibalism was evil! (Benny wasn't sure where that placed his grandmother's lasagna!). So Benny's diet, for the time being, would be sausages with blood and brains and foreign foods with plenty of organs. Not Benny's typical idea of good food.

While the teens ate, or tried to eat in the case of Sarah and Rory, Evelyn described the counterfeit curse.

"It's better to call this a counterfeit curse than a mutant curse" Evelyn explained. "It's a clever forgery. Like counterfeit money, counterfeit jewelry, or even a counterfeit brand-name product, this is _not_ the real thing but it's made to stand in for it. Someone wanted Benny a zombie but they couldn't or didn't want to cast a proper curse."

"It's like wanting to showoff a _Rolex_ but buying a Row-lex" said Ethan, taking his spoon from his mouth to speak. "Because you can't afford it or don't want to pay for it."

"Or something good" said Rory dismissively. "Like _Star Wars_ genuine collector merchandise"

"You mean something you want" laughed Sarah. "I think most people would go for the overpriced watch."

"The point is" said Ethan, as he again paused with spoon in midair, "that someone wanted Zombie Benny back but they didn't want to play by the rules of magical zombies. A new type of zombie curse . . . a counterfeit . . . is what they cast."

"Our enemy wanted Benny to be a zombie, but not be a zombie in the typical way" Evelyn agreed. "A zombie in the same way he was before. But _that_ wasn't properly a magical curse, it was the product of the chicken de-brainer and coffee mixed together."

"And now I'm the chicken-debrainer" Benny complained, as he crunched on another skull.

"Like an expert forger" Evelyn continued, "counterfeiting a curse requires a good deal of skill, power and deception. So, it's a case of "wouldn't" instead of couldn't cast a proper curse. Sarah, boys, it takes a good deal to fool me after all the years I've lived in this town! Maybe, like you, I was becoming a little too complacent when most of the evil here was destroyed! But Benny's illness seemed to be a very ordinary flu. This morning, he was still running a temperature and his eyes were only bloodshot. We only told his father what happened an hour ago."

"Dad wants to fly home _right-away_ , even quitting his job" Benny explained, proudly. "That's cool of him, but we had to tell him as cool as his coming home for me would be, it wouldn't actually help. As for Mom, I'm going to try to keep it from her as long as I can. For her sake." _Maybe I'll say I have double-pink-eye?_ It's not only her wedding coming up in Jamaica. She's going to freak out worse that your parents, Ethan, if they ever had found out."

"I can believe it" said Ethan, thinking of Benny's magic-wary mother as he absent-mindedly accepted another bowl of soup from Mrs. Weir. "But your Mom's going to find out sooner or later. You'll have to take the glasses off in front of her. Unless you say you're like Cyclops now."

"Who's Cyclops?" asked Sarah. "Or is Cyclops a what?"

"Cyclops is one of the _X-Men_ " said Rory. "He's okay, but not as cool as Professor X or Wolverine. Or hot, like Rogue or Jean Grey."

"Cyclop's the guy who shoots _actual_ laser beams out of his eyes" Ethan explained, as he crunched his left eyetooth into a chicken skull. "He wears red glasses to control it."

"That's not one of Benny's zombie powers" said Evelyn succinctly, as she moved the conversation away from the _X-Men_. "Nor is it one of my own. I do, however, have the ability to find the source of a curse if it's nearby. And I can tell you that whoever cast it has fled town."

"Who was it? Or what?" said Sarah again.

"I don't know" said Evelyn. "But they've left because they _knew about me_ and are afraid I'll find them. Ethan, have some more soup, dear"

"Oh . . . uh, yeah" said Ethan.

Ethan thought the soup wasn't as bad as it looked. It was _only a type_ of chicken soup after all. And he was hungry. And he hadn't realized he was now on his third bowl.

Sarah now realized that Ethan had been eating the soup non-stop. Ethan's teeth, like Benny's, like a vampire's fangs, had supernatural strength. Sarah looked concernedly as she realized what this must mean. She said nothing as Evelyn turned to her and shook her head gently.

The meaning was clear to Sarah. Not yet!"

"There are a few reasons I'm hopeful, dears" Evelyn went on. "First is that the forger hasn't been able to take away Benny's free will with this counterfeit curse."

"Huh?" said Rory.

"I'm not stumbling around groaning _brains . . . brains_ " Benny explained. "And I'm probably not going to chew on anyone . . . if I'm kept well fed. Well, as long as your brains stay in your head."

"No worries there" joked Ethan. "I don't intend to take mine out."

"Most importantly" Evelyn went on. "They haven't been able to damage Benny's soul. A zombie curse, even a counterfeit one, attacks the body and not the soul."

"If they could attack the soul, they would have turned me into a vampire again" Sarah mused.

"Yes" said Evelyn. "They would have, Sarah. It looks very much like the shock at the restaurant was aimed as revenge for something you three, you four, might have done."

"It's cool you were untouched" said Ethan, grinning at Sarah, before remembering Rory. "You too, dude."

"Erica will be angry _she_ didn't get cursed again" Rory observed wryly.

Benny snicked, but Ethan and Sarah sighed. Erica would complain about not being re-cursed!

"I suppose my seer power is the only other casualty" said Ethan, as he helped himself to more soup.

Everybody watched Ethan chew on another chicken head.

"That's your fourth bowl, dear" said Evelyn, gently. "Dear, it's about time you considered what's been happening to you too."

"Fourth" said Ethan. "I guess I'm . . . ."

Think was what Ethan did. And again the events and his actions in the last few days ran through his mind. This time at lightning speed. This time Ethan arrived at the right conclusion.

Benny was a zombie _again_. Sarah would have been a vampire _again_ if their unknown enemy had the power.

And . . . Ethan had suddenly been hungry for raw meat. He had barked at Rory's dog. He had been "over-energized". Wound up. Chewing down chicken skulls with his incisors.

Benny had only been very briefly a zombie. For about an hour, tops. And Ethan? Ethan had very briefly been a . . . .

"Don't tell me!" said Ethan, jumping up.

"Ethan, calm down. You'll be okay" said Sarah, putting down her soup bowl and standing beside Ethan.

"Dude, the worst thing you can do is panic" Benny advised. "Zombie is _way_ worse. I mean, with you, it's only getting started . . . ."

"I don't need to hear that" Ethan retorted.

"The dude was a werewolf" said Rory, finally guessing what everybody else had now knew. "For a couple days or one night, depending how you count it."

"Less than a night" Ethan insisted..

"Couple days" said Benny bluntly. "Ethan's as much as werewolf as I am a zombie . . . well counterfeit werewolf and counterfeit zombie. You know how it went with David, and he was only a weredog. Complete dog the night of the full moon, even in human form he was really half-dog. Only thing is Ethan's been hit by a counterfeit curse . . . we don't even know how bad it's going to get."

"Benny!" _growled_ Ethan.

Ethan had meant to yell. But the fact he growled added insult to injury. For a moment, Ethan was dizzy as he was hit by a wave of shock, fear and revulsion. A few days ago, a few hours ago even, he had his full life ahead of him. And now? This?!

"That's enough" interrupted Evelyn. "There's no reason to panic. The important thing to know is that we may be able to set things right and set them right quickly. Likely, Ethan, even before the full moon on the seventeenth. I know how to cancel out their spell. The problem we need to do is find who's behind this and track them down."

"But _how_?" asked Ethan desperately, saying aloud what was in the four teens' minds.


	6. Anatomy of a Crime

**Anatomy of a Crime and Poetic Justice Dissected**

Evelyn soon excused herself, claiming she needed to clean the dishes before the chicken brains clung to them. This was a white lie. After some consideration, Evelyn had decided that even now it was best to leave most of the footwork to the teens and "Team SaBRE."

It wasn't that Mrs. Weir wasn't angry with this attack on her grandson and his friends. It was that she was along in years and she knew that it was best for the younger generation to take the lead and hone their skills. With, of course, the clues and backup she could and did provide from time to time.

And Evelyn had _hinted_ at a major clue. She outright said:

"I wish I had never won that coupon to _Casa de Ajo_ on Bingo night."

Evelyn knew that Ethan, Benny and Sarah would certainly pick it up. Maybe even Rory, although deductive reasoning wasn't his strong point.

Besides, while Evelyn subcontracted to her dishwasher the job of de-braining the dishes, she had things to do. First, was to make sure she ordered a few weeks worth of brain sausages the European specialty butcher in town. Second, some more chicken heads otherwise destined for export. While Evelyn wasn't herself a fan of brains, she resolved to eat them with Benny. Evelyn knew Benny's father would have too, if he could cut short his overseas sales trip.

But sharing "brain food" with Benny, even if it was normal "human food" in many countries, would only go so far. It was now, reflected Evelyn, that Benny's optimistic, exuberant personality would be his greatest asset.

When Evelyn finished her orders, she repaired to her special room in the basement. This was her third, and most important task. While the members of Team Sabre (and perhaps Erica) were tracking down the villain, Evelyn would prepare an ugly surprise that would knock out the evildoer's powers.

Evelyn believed in fair play and sportsmanship in everything from cheerleading to gardening. But the battle against evil was different! No worthy opponent's there! And in this case . . . she _didn't_ make an exception! The only people whom her supernatural talents were aimed at were evil players performing evil deeds (excluding, of course, Benny's occasional magical-trouble making). If they were worthy, they'd be an ally and not an opponent!

Benny's grandmother again considered the counterfeit curses, calibrated for a maximum of suffering. She had explained why Benny was the subject of a counterfeited curse instead of the real thing. But she hadn't explained where Sarah and Benny fit in the picture.

Although Mrs. Weir had downplayed the idea, it was obvious that Sarah had been intended to be the third victim. As the bloodsucker's curse was the worst there was, it could only be passed on by a vamp. And as Jesse discovered, making unwilling or unwitting vamps, not to mention the existence of _good_ vampires, backfired on the colony of leeches as a whole.

Fortunately, by coincidence . . . _or something more_ . . . Sarah had been out of harm's way. It was obvious to Mrs. Weir that Sarah was destined never to be a vampire again, faked or otherwise.

As for Ethan, Evelyn knew why he was a counterfeit werewolf instead of being subject to the authentic curse. Again, it was a precaution used to prevent Evelyn from derailing the rotten scheme. Although it was at the limit of her abilities, Evelyn could cure or at least treat werewolves, depending on the circumstances. Benny had once suggested programming a video game where he, Sarah and Ethan fought and cured werewolf students of Whitechapel High.

After the events of the blue moon two years before, Evelyn had given David Stochowski a charmed water-resistant digital wrist-watch (with chronograph, night illumination and two alarm settings!) that neutralized his were-dog curse and given him his normalcy (the curse was too far advanced for Evelyn's to remove entirely). Upon which the jock took a football scholarship at a US College, and moved away from Whitechapel swearing never to return . . . for which Benny didn't blame his "bud".

Evelyn thought Ethan deserved assurance like that. But, sadly, the watch wouldn't work on a counterfeit curse. She couldn't cure or treat Ethan until Team Sa-BRE caught the inventor of those forged hexes.

Not for the first time in her life, Evelyn wished she had the power and skill (and list of ingredients required) to mix the master reversal potion . . . the translucent blue formula necessity had required been used on Ethan.

For a few moments Evelyn studied some books, but closed them with a smile.

Evelyn knew Benny had recorded a knock-out spell onto his phone (and emailed a copy to Ethan). Why wouldn't she include that in her preparations? After all, one of the goals of their unknown enemy was to knockout Benny's gift permanently. Wouldn't it be poetic justice should the perpetrator of the counterfeit curses was knocked out by a digitally saved spell?

"Benny should take his magic more seriously, but that'll come in time" she said to herself, "but Benny knows how to use his other _natural_ talents. That spell should be part of the recipe.

* * *

Back in Benny's room, Zombie Benny was on the computer while the three other teens were looking over Zombie Benny's shoulders.

"Too bad you don't have a t.v. here" Rory complained. "Then we could connect the display with the HDMI and pow, fifty inches."

"Try getting used to seeing a screen through dark glasses" Benny retorted.

"We did" Sarah reminded him.

"Rory, no sitting on my dresser" Benny complained, as the dresser groaned under Rory's weight.

"I'm not that heavy" Rory said, as he sprung off. "And there's no other place to sit."

"It's just not made for sitting on" Sarah said, who had a chair for herself.

"Now I know why we usually don't hang out here" Ethan commented.

The room wasn't that great for three sixteen-year-old-boys and one seventeen-year-old.

Rory thought so too. Though he privately thought that it would be great for one sixteen-year-old boy and _three_ seventeen-year-old girls.

As for Ethan, the silver lining in his discovering himself cursed to be a werewolf _in front_ of his girlfriend and friends was that it left little time to feel sorry for himself. Now that Ethan was dating Sarah, he was very reluctant to continue to panic about it. Not with Sarah having been a vampire! And Sarah having literally once given up (well, postponed as it turned out) being cured to save him from being a werewolf!

Wouldn't Ethan look a lot cooler if he quietly took it in stride? At least, Ethan rationalized, whatever this counterfeit curse did to him _this time_ he wouldn't be arguing or growling at Sarah. Sarah not being a vampire or a fledgeling, Ethan didn't have to be imprisoned to any werewolf instincts on that count.

"We don't have to think about those curses so long as Benny gets those sausages and wears his sunglasses" said Ethan, optimistically. "And that looks, dude, a long easier than ordering pints of blood, blood substitutes and rats."

"You'll just have to hold it together" Sarah told Ethan, in an emphatic tone. "If being a vampire's any lesson, your emotions are going to be all over the place and your mind's going to want you to do things you never wanted to do before."

"Only it'll be dog and wolf things" said Rory. "Instead of just blood and killing."

"There'll be some of the blood and killing too" Ethan said laconically, though he had gone pale "I remember a bit about it . . . but . . . uh, we're not getting anywhere with this. Let's start with the restaurant."

"Somebody set up the bingo prize for the restaurant that night" Sarah concluded. "They were waiting to cast the spell at the precise location."

"They were right there in the restaurant!" Benny exclaimed. "The fracking . . . this isn't a t.v. show! Whoever it was . . . they had to be close to us! It's not as if you can chill at home and wave your fingers and mutter some words!

"But how did they know Benny's grandmother would give the tickets to us?" Sarah asked, reasonably.

"They were two, two-for-one meal coupons" Benny said. "They were only good that week and Grandma won it on a Thursday."

"That still doesn't explain how they knew she'd give the tickets to us" Sarah said.

"Grandma wanted me to have a good date" said Benny. "She's cool . . . so long as I'm not in trouble."

"Old people just don't eat that much as us" Rory suggested. "It makes more sense to give a free meal to Benny."

Benny muttered something nobody else picked up.

"Old people don't eat that much?" said Sarah.

"Where'd you get that?" asked Ethan.

"No, really" said Rory. "You always see it in the senior's menu in restaurants. It's always has less to eat."

"Wait, that actually makes perfect sense" said Ethan. "Mexican entrees aren't exactly Mrs. Weir's idea for a night out.

"More all-night egg and pancake restaurants" Benny said. "And the occasional _zesty_ pizza."

"If we were under surveillance" Ethan put in, 'they'd know that Sarah and I were dating. They would also know that Sarah babysits at my house . . . babysits Jane at my house . . . Friday night. They'd also know Benny finally has a girlfriend."

"Ethan, how'd you like to be the world's first zombie werewolf?" Benny quipped.

"I'll pass" said Ethan deadpan.

"How did they know it would be Ethan not the Rorster there with a girl" Rory pointed out.

" _Because a certain place hasn't froze over_ " Benny muttered to himself.

"Because Benny had the ticket, and they would know Sarah and I were an item" said Ethan, clapping Rory on the shoulder. "They would know you're . . . uh . . . temporarily between girls."

"Yeah" said Rory. "But . . . man . . . someone's been watching us?"

"Someone who has a perverted sense of poetic justice" Sarah said.

"An enemy of ours that's still living . . . or at least not completely dead, not a vamp, and has magical powers" Ethan concluded. "Still living, for the obvious. Magical powers, because of the curse. Not a vamp, because Whitechapel is a no-undead zone for the next few years."

"And vamps can't really work magic" said Benny. "I mean, not the kind grandma and me were born with. Vamps don't personally have the ability. They have to use tools, if they can get them."

"It could be someone we don't know" said Sarah. "Someone evil working on someone's behalf."

"That's the worst case" said Benny. "The hardest criminals to catch would be a seemingly random guy. So where do we start?"

"I think we should put off the unknown-evil theory" Ethan suggested. "Not only is a really slim chance, even if it was the truth, our best chance to trace it would be though a known enemy. But where do we start?"

"Probably the scene of the crime" said Sarah.

"And the lady who runs the bingo" said Rory.

Benny was skeptical of Mrs. Farnum being to blame. She was a knitting acquaintance of his grandmother's and was "nice, but _really_ boring old lady." But Jesse had been leader of the drama club, and a suck-up to Principal Hicks. So, who knew?

The idea that the _Casa de Ajo_ opened just to lure Ethan, Sarah and Benny into a trap also seemed unlikely. Isabel Rodriguez, the proprietress who greeted them at the front, didn't seem to be evil. However, Isabel was such a raven-haired chick, Benny thought she was the match of _any_ of the vanquished female vampires that so recently prowled Whitechapel. Ethan, to Sarah's amusement, confessed he thought it was suspicious that an older women could look that hot.

"I've got to go there" said Rory, interested. "Hot hostess and garlic. I mean, only if she's not putting curses on us."

Mrs. Farnum's and _Casa de Ajo_ went on Benny's typed list (not to be confused with _the list_ , Benny's list of enemies). Ethan volunteered to investigate. As a reporter for the school paper he would have a good cover.

"Let's hope that the _Casa de Ajo_ has a video surveillance" Ethan remarked. "Maybe we can get the access codes and view it online . . . for a good cause."

"Then we'd better have two reporters" suggested Sarah. "So somebody can give a distraction while the other gets the codes."

After some argument, it was decided that Sarah and Ethan would go tomorrow (Mrs. Farnum was out and the _Casa de Ajo_ was closed Mondays). There was some talk of Benny going with Ethan instead, as he couldn't be cursed again. But Benny was grounded until Evelyn could be satisfied he wouldn't try to go after anyone's brains.

Rory was up to the spicy Mexican food and "the spicy woman". But in the end he decided to work with Benny and investigate their past enemies. Which was the boring part of police work, to Rory's way of thinking. But, to Rory's way of thinking, Benny would quickly be bored with being a zombie and he needed someone to work with.

"The problem is" said Benny, who now opened Benny's list "our enemies either they never had any magic, no longer have any magic, or they're just plain dead."

"Or they were demons, gone back to where they started from" said Rory, with a shudder.

* * *

It was very early in the evening, only about six o'clock, but Ethan walked home with Sarah to her house. For a while, things were almost . . . almost . . . as awkward as that first date. Neither really wanted to discuss the case, or especially werewolves, but their minds kept returning to those uncomfortable subjects.

Finally, Sarah thought this was enough and said so.

"I"m just not ready to accept being a werewolf" admitted Ethan, though he was afraid he sounded whiny in saying so. "If it comes to that."

"You'd be insane if you were ready to accept it" said Sarah reassuringly. "And it's not going to come to that. Compared to being cured of being a vampire, being cured of being a werewolf is easy. Look at me, I never thought I'd have my school picture again."

"You're preparing?" asked Ethan.

"Of course I am" said Sarah.

Normally Ethan wouldn't be too interested in a girl's photo preparations. But it was Sarah, and her enthusiasm quickly caught on. So much so, he mentioned his own photo plans (strictly serious this year), Benny's, and even "the Rorster's" revival of his ancient tradition of a cool new photo every year."

By the time the two reached Sarah's house, they were talking about visiting the mall Saturday as if the curses had never happened. Sarah's parents were home, and Ethan was invited in for a slice of cake. Normally this would have been very awkward, but recently Sarah's parents had warmed up to Ethan. This was natural, as Sarah considered, Ethan being smart, polite albeit awkward was more appreciated by parents than by teens.

Ethan and Sarah kissed on the front porch in the early evening darkness. All and all, it was an awesome end to a terrible day.

But, Sarah reflected moodily later on, after kissing Ethan she noticed his eyes. She liked those eyes. Deep, brown and sincere. But she could have sworn she saw a flash, not of the seer white, but a hungry, burning wolfish yellow.

 **Author's Note**

There was once an online video game where Ethan, Benny and Sarah foil a werewolf janitor's plot to turn the students of Whitechapel High into his werewolf pack. Apparently, curing werewolves was easy in the game. In "Blue Moon" it's difficult Benny's unable to even remove the curse he accidentally placed on Ethan.

Here, I split the difference. Curing werewolves is difficult, but just within the range of Mrs. Weir's skill and power. Unfortunately, this doesn't help Ethan being as he is the victim of a counterfeit curse.


	7. Two to the Power of Ten

**Two to the Power of Ten**

There had been adventures in the past where Erica hadn't played a role, nor even been informed. Or, two years before, Erica had been with the "heels and the bad guys" in Benny's words, using the professional wrestling terms.

But Erica was Sarah's best friend! Sarah had a serious dilemma in whether she wanted to tell Erica what had happened! Erica wasn't entirely over Ethan's role in curing her; she might just gloat about it. On one hand, Erica _could_ offer help. But then again, even if she wanted to be helpful, Erica would start giving Ethan advice straight from the pages of _Dusk_. As for zombies? Sarah had the idea Erica would find zombies disgusting in general, Zombie Benny in particular.

What finally settled Sarah's mind was two things. First was her own experience. Would she have wanted Ethan blurting to everyone she had been a vampire? Ethan _had_ spilt to Benny that first night . . . but that was before Ethan had really known her or what was going on. And second, Ethan asked Sarah to keep it secret in the student lounge the next morning.

"I need Erica knowing like I need another curse on my head" Ethan said sarcastically. "For once I'm happy she thinks I'm disgusting, otherwise she'll be giving me some of her insane werewolf advice."

"I thought so" Sarah agreed. "But she's going to find out. Especially if you start showing symptoms."

Ethan looked sick at the mention of symptoms, but managed to give a weak smile.

"No problem" Ethan said. "I'm holding it together. Except . . . ."

"What?"

"Growling, Sarah" said Rory, who now sat down across from them. "He put together one of our new songs and sent me the demo last night. Whoa, you can really hear him struggle with the word _girl_."

"You're still working on the dance?" asked Sarah amazed.

"You and Rory are still excited about your school pictures" Ethan returned. "And the dance is at the end of the month. I mean, we can't let this . . . problem . . . wreck our lives."

"I mean, dude, it's not as bad as being a vamp" said Rory. "No curse on the soul, you're not unholy. You're not always hunting for blood either. You get photos. If worst comes to worst . . . ."

"Not helping Rory" said Ethan.

"Brains now and then are easy for Benny to get. And I figured something that'll make you feel better. And you guys say I suck at being a mathlete!"

Rory passed Ethan a slip of paper. It had a simple equation, and a few words in Rory's handwriting. (The three of them had been in one of the last classes in their school to learn cursive writing)

Rory's paper read [(100 - 17) x 12.3] + 3 = 1023.9 rounds up to 1024.

Ethan looked perplexed and passed it to Sarah.

"What does that mean?" asked Sarah. "1024"

"It's 2 to the power of 10" said Ethan. "And . . . ."

Ethan looked over the equation again. It was clear as day.

"Rory, dude" Ethan groaned. "That's definitely not helping. 1024 times."

"Am I missing something?" Sarah said sarcastically.

"If Ethan lives to be 100" started Rory. "A cool guy like Ethan ought to live to be 100."

"That's the hundred" Ethan explained distastefully. "I'm almost 17, so that's 83. 12.3 is the average number of full moons a years. Multiplied that's 1020.9. There's three full moons until I turn 17. There's your plus three. And . . .round up."

"It's only 1024 nights" Rory explained. "But the rest of time you'll be normal. Only 1024 times in just over 83 years! Well, Ethan, acting a little like a dog or a wolf all the time, but normal."

"That's the awesome news?" Ethan said disbelievingly. "Rory, Sarah wasn't missing something. You were! One thousand and twenty four nights of turning into Werewolf Ethan. Until I finally get free . . . by dropping dead at age 100!"

"What does a hundred year old werewolf do anyway?" Sarah joked.

"Use a cane?" Rory guessed.

* * *

Rory may have been missing something, but not Erica. Socially, Erica was having an awesome day. Currently, the coolest jock in school was a guy by the name of Bill Vanlake. Vanlake's parents were gone for the weekend, that meant a wild house-party! Well, mansion party given the Vanlake home. Anything would go!

Sarah could come too . . . but not Ethan, because he was only in the 11th Grade and a complete geek. Could this be the chance to split the two up!

When they ate together at lunch, Erica was pleased to see Sarah interested in the party. And talk about who was going. And what it would be like. But Erica was doomed to be disappointed. Sarah wasn't interested in actually going. Sarah was going to the mall with Ethan, and wasn't going to stand him up.

And between the counterfeit curses, the yearbook committee and regular schoolwork . . . who could go to a party? Yet Sarah kept this secret from the indignant Erica.

"But . . . _why_?" Erica whined. "Just because you're dating a geek . . . .

"Named Ethan" said Sarah impatiently.

". . . .doesn't mean you have to pass up the coolest party in school history. Okay, second-best. Who can forget the party where I. . . ."

This meant Jesse's fateful vampire party. And to describe that party as "cool" was something that boiled Sarah's well circulating-blood.

"You just can't let that go, can you?" Sarah returned angrily. "We made a deal with you so you can _eventually_ go back to blood-sucking to your un-dead heart's content. Just shut-up about it! Do you know how lucky you are?"

Erica noticed Sarah's eyes quickly glancing towards where Ethan and Rory were lined up at the cashier's. Rory was, in Erica's opinion, gibbering idiotically. As for Ethan, he was in an odd mood. Talking animatedly about something, but looking pointedly away from some nearby hamburgers sizzling on a grill.

Erica was smart enough to know something was up. But bereft of vampire super-hearing, she couldn't hear what. Some Team Sabre business, no doubt? Something cool? Interesting monster-busting business? Ghosts? Was it worth hanging out with the geeks again? Not this time! It was four days to the coolest school party of the year. For now, at least there was too much flirting and dating to bother.

And homework; even if she was hot Erica still kept her grades up.

But after the party, all bets were off. It was just that Ethan and his geek posse's adventures usually wound up in a few days . . . .

* * *

Although they hadn't put their list of suspects together, Ethan and Rory were on the lookout to see if Stephanie was still miserable at her job in the cafeteria. There she was, cheerfully grilling hamburgers. As for the school hamburgers, they looked good . . . even though for several years school hamburgers had to meet a government "healthy food" guideline.

Ethan looked away from the cooking burgers, worried. They were making him very hungry. Normal? Or werewolfish? Ethan chalked it to normal, although he couldn't help but think that teen boys don't start inwardly salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs.

"She's here" said Rory. "So it can't be her?"

Stephanie, a miserable-looking old woman if ever you saw one, glanced at the two and smiled.

"But she's too happy" Ethan replied, as the two went to the cashier. "She knows what happened."

As they paid the two were silently in thought.

"Maybe if you threatened to bite her?" said Rory, after they went to their table. "As a cheerleader she was all hot and really vain about it. Even as an old woman she can't want to look like a werewolf. A girl werewolf must be a real dog."

"Literally" remarked Ethan, drolly. "But your idea's sick, dude. I don't go around biting people. And a werewolf has to be in wolf form, not human form. And I'm not waiting for that to happen to me. Either once or 2 to the power of 10 times.


	8. More Questions Than Answers

**More Questions Than Answers**

Mr. G was the faculty adviser to the school paper. Ethan thought it was best to clear his proposals for a feature on the old lady in charge of the bingo and the new Mexican restaurant before getting to work that afternoon.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't necessary. Ethan wasn't _really_ interested in the interviews so he could submit articles for the paper. But, by contacting Mr. G, Ethan could get the _extremely_ lame school "press" cards to flash at his subjects. To give Ethan more authority . . . just in case. Similarly, if Ethan's "interviewees" wanted to check back with the school, to see if he was legit, Ethan thought it was a good backstop to use Mr. G as his alibi.

And the fact was, Ethan was already at school so . . . why not? And Ethan had, with Sarah's help, refined his sales pitch for the articles. Ethan had even half-convinced himself that he had two _awesome ideas_ for the school paper!

Still, the combination of bingo-lady and Mexican restaurant was a tough sell, even to Mr. G!

"I don't know Ethan" said Mr. G, as he looked perplexedly into a jammed printer; one that usually printed the school newspaper. "It's radical that you're interesting in community organizations. But do you think your peers at Whitechapel High are really interested in a church combo-fundraising bingo?"

"There's no better time to start" said Ethan earnestly. "Why can't we do our duty as a paper promoting our community? I mean, we can't always just report on school sporting events and dances."

"It's a school weekly" Mr. G said, as he removed a cartridge that reeked of ink. More so for Ethan than Mr. G, who winced for more than one reason as the smell wafted his way.

"I mean, we should be more interested in things that go on in the community?" Ethan repeated. "This bingo raises a lot of money for good causes."

"Okay, you convinced me" said Mr. G, who frowned, not because of the feature, but because he had managed to get black ink all over his hands. "But what about this Mexican restaurant? _Castle de Angel_?

" _Casa de Ajo_ " explained Ethan. "It means House of Garlic in Spanish."

"It sounds too much like corporate shilling" said Mr. G skeptically, who was after all, by the peace sign and clothes he wore, evidently an old hippy. But he was a good teacher and respected the views of his students "I don't think it's cool to be advertising for a private company in what's supposed to be the student's paper."

"It's a new place" said Ethan. "It's run by this women who wants to bring real Mexican food to Whitechapel. We have a Quebecois French restaurant, we have a French-style French restaurant, Italian, Indian, Chinese and Greek, but hadn't anything Mexican. Shouldn't we telling people, you know, so they can have new culinary experiences?"

"Now that" thought Ethan to himself in a parenthesise, "the bloodsucker crowd and their _culinary experiences_ are a thing fo the past!"

"That's an idea" Mr. G mused, as he again looked confusedly at the petulant printer. "Instead of always buying pizza . . . and the Grade 12 students driving down to the fast food places off the highway for burgers. We can make it a regular food feature, but I think, Ethan, we've got to share the wealth among our cub reporters. You can take the first article, because it's a new idea. Oh, and you and Sarah can have a sample but don't go accepting coupons in return for a good review."

"Thanks. Uh, Mr. G, do you want me to fix that for you" said Ethan, as he watched Mr. G struggle unwrapping a new cartridge, and come increasingly close to destroying it in the process.

"I could use a hand . . . ." started Mr. G.

In less than two minutes, Ethan had the cartridge installed and the week's edition printing.

For the moment, it put Ethan in a good mood. Whatever happened, he was still Ethan Morgan.

* * *

Sarah and Ethan went to Mrs. Farnum's directly after school, carefully dodging Erica. She would never had believed the both of them were hurrying away to do a feature story about an old lady who ran a bingo.

Mrs. Farnum was everything Benny had said she was. A petite woman no taller than five feet high, wearing thick spectacles and a purple pants-suit. A nice old lady, a knitting acquaintance of his grandmother's, but . . . _extremely boring_.

Ethan and Sarah were quickly invited in, and seated in the living room on an old fashioned wing-back sofa. A china chandelier shone over them, an upright piano with yellowed ivory keys stood in the corner, and the rest of the place amounted to a lot of mahogany furniture covered by lots of doilies and picture frames.

The two politely accepted some weak tea with milk. Mrs. Farnum went off to get digestive biscuits . . . and her grey tabby cat sauntered into the room.

Ethan and the cat both bristled.

Sarah saw the problem in an instant.

" _You're Ethan_ , not a dog" she said hurriedly. "Remember, you're better than that."

Ethan swallowed a lump in his throat. Had he been about to growl? Bark again? Maybe even howl?

"I hope it's not always like this" Ethan said as he watched the cat, still looking at him tensely.

"Just a few days until you get cured" said Sarah reassuringly. "It's not as bad as being a bloodsucker and going all fangs and yellow eyes whenever you smell blood."

"That's something to remember" said Ethan.

The tabby cat brushed fondly against Sarah, but looked disdainfully at Ethan. The feline was careful to snub Ethan, deliberately and decisively walking away with its tail in the air. The cat jumped to the top of a roll-desk in the corner, and, after wrinkling up its nose in disgust at what it realized was a _relatively_ harmless teenaged werewolf, went to sleep.

"It takes it casually" Ethan observed dryly, as he and Sarah looked at the animal.

Sarah laughed, but looking at Ethan strained expression decided to reassure him. How often had he tried to help her when she was suffering from "bloodsucker-related" depression?

"I guess it knows you won't hurt it" she said. "And does it really matter that one cat doesn't like you?"

"It's knowing why it doesn't like me" Ethan admitted. "But I guess it doesn't matter . . . it's temporary isn't it? And . . . it's not really something that's going into the school newspaper."

Ethan and Sarah asked several questions from Mrs. Farnum about her work, before finally broached the subject of the coupon for the Mexican restaurant.

"I started managing the bingo about ten years before" said Mrs. Farnum as she knitted all the while. "Since then we've received more and more donations. Most of them with a letter of explanation or nowadays my grandson gets them by electric mail."

"It's uh, e-mail, for electronic mail" said Ethan awkwardly.

"Of course" said Mrs. Farnum. "Thank you. But that Mexican restaurant coupon was sent by mail, without any letter. Sometimes people want to make sure they're not getting anything in return for their good deeds. But I'm so glad Evelyn gave Benny the ticket. You did have a wonderful little double date. You too are _so_ cute."

Sarah and Ethan were both taken aback. It was awkward moment. What do you say to that?

"We had a wonderful date" Sarah said, faking sincerity for the old lady.

"The Mexican restaurant was awesome" Ethan added truthfully, as he finished making notes on his smart-phone. Ethan realized Mrs. Farnum's perplexed look. "Awesome's another word for great."

"Oh! I would go too" said Mrs. Farnum. "But spicy food disagrees with me."

"Do you still have the envelope that the coupon was mailed in" asked Ethan.

"No, dear" said Mrs. Farnum. "I threw it away. Why would I keep it? But if you want to see something interesting, dear, I have a whole album of photos of my new great-granddaughter . . . ."

Ethan and Sarah gave their regrets . . . . but not before Sarah mentioned she was a babysitter and gave Mrs. Farnum her number just-in-case.

"Well she was obviously being used to pass on the tickets" said Ethan, as he and Sarah walked towards downtown and the Mexican restaurant. "She didn't buy the ticket. She didn't set up the bingo so Evelyn would win the ticket. She didn't do anything more evil than threaten us with her great-granddaughter's baby pictures."

"I don't see her as getting revenge for anything" said Sarah, with a bit of a laugh. "Let alone anything supernatural. Were you looking for the postmark on the envelope?"

"That too. But if I could get the access, DNA or fingerprints" Ethan started.

"Look Ethan" said Sarah. "I don't think even you can hack police files to find DNA and fingerprint files. Just plain geekiness wouldn't get too far over there"

"Yeah" Ethan admitted. "The RCMP keeps all Canadian fingerprint files in their central database. Hacking a police database is different from hacking a cell phone. Even if it is for a good cause. It would be as if I were taking on the entire Justice League at once."

"Or, as we say on planet Earth" said Sarah, "it's like poking a hornet's nest."

"So I'd not only be a werewolf, but a werewolf convict" Ethan said with disgust. "Besides that, we're talking about fingerprints from people convicted of actual, non-supernatural crimes. From what we've seen, supernatural threats don't really find their way into the criminal justice system."

"You don't have your seer powers" said Sarah, practically. "The envelope would have been useless. So you may as well drop it."

"For once, I _really_ wish I did have those powers" said Ethan glumly. "But then I wouldn't be in this fracking disaster to begin with. No, I guess I would have taken the envelope to Mrs. Weir. I can't . . . I can't believe how lost I feel."

"But complaining really doesn't help" said Sarah. "Trust me on that."

* * *

Benny also felt like complaining. Even with comics and even again _allowed to play video games_ , stranded at home all day made him irritable! Brain sausage for breakfast, chicken-head soup at lunch! Man! And although he was going back to school tomorrow, and again be on the case with his friends in Team Sabre, and again be seeing his girlfriend Della, Benny was still going back to school as a dead-eyed zombie.

Demoted from awesome spellmaster to boring, un-dead, dead-eyed counterfeit zombie!

Benny's grandmother had even made him give up his favourite pair of shades, and made him turn down Rory's offer to give him the designer-pair Rory had used as a bloodsucker (and that, incidentally, Rory was sick of having around). Thing was, Evelyn had remembered that, from the right angle, someone could see Benny's dead-black eyeballs from the side! So Benny had to wear what he felt were some "loser" type of sunglasses with side-shields.

He bet they would get in the way somehow with Della!

And, of course, Benny would had to pretend to have an eye infection or irritation that would let him wear shades in school as long as he was a zombie, or . . . _if the worst came to pass_ . . . until he graduated.

"At least it's not being a vamp" Benny said to himself with a satisfied air, as he won a game of _Conquer the Solar System_ on his desktop that afternoon. "I can have my picture taken, eat plenty of brain-food and go anywhere so long as I never take off my sunglasses. And its not as if it is going to last. I'm _way_ too cool to stay a zombie for long. The _real problem_ is being cured in time to RSVP for Mom and Step-Dad's wedding in Jamaica. And making sure Mom and my actual Dad don't completely freak out over me."

"That's about the hardest" said Rory, causing Benny to start . . . even in his counterfeit-zombie state. "Trying to make your parents think everything's normal with you even though it's fracked-up to heck. But dude, _whazzzzzzzzzz up_!"

"Rory, man, don't you ever knock" said Benny, exasperated.

"Don't have to" said Rory petulantly. "Besides, we're second-best friends."

Benny was more sympathetic to Rory on these grounds than he was willing to admit. The three pals, especially best friends and next-door neighbours Ethan and Benny, had a habit of entering each other's houses without knocking or ringing doorbells! Benny thought it wasn't really fair that Rory hadn't been able to take advantage of that privilege for nearly two years. Or to be exact, as Rory now insisted the odd time the subject came up, one year and nine months.

So Benny wasn't going to chew up Rory (literally or figuratively) over that. But Benny decided to say something, as he was annoyed at being taken by surprise.

"Fracked-up to heck?" questioned Benny. "Dude, you should really use start to use real swear words. At least . . . when Grandma can't hear and magically wash out my mouth with soap."

"Maybe" Rory protested. "But frack is a real swear word in _Battlestar Galactica_. Both versions."

"Yeah" Benny admitted. "Frack counts."

"You know, dude" said Rory. "I'm about decided I'm going with a _Galactica_ uniform this year for my photo. But I can't decide which one. _Galactica_ Classic or _Galactica_ reimagined."

" _Galactica_ Classic" said Benny, without missing a beat.

"I knew you'd say that" Rory said, but without real objection. "Even then, there's still bridge officer, colonial warrior, maybe even Cylon, Imperious leader of the Cylons, Count Baltar, and . . . and . . . dude, did you just beat _Conquer the Solar System_. That's awesome! I can never get past the Plutonians. You'd never think they'd have gone psycho just because Pluto was de-listed as a planet."

"People go psycho all the time" Benny said bluntly.

With that, the two started looking through their old adventures and examining old enemies.

Most members of their "rogue's gallery" were dead, including the ones who had been "only" un-dead. The ghosts they had fought had moved on to a better place (as with the girl imprisoned in the mirror) or . . . someplace else (Coach Ed). Neither Rory nor Benny knew if Ed being pulled into what Ethan had described as "the locker of the night" had meant Ed's afterlife was literally "fracked _down_ to heck" or if it was a temporary thing. It wasn't something they wanted to dwell upon. And truthfully, it was hard for them to feel any sympathy for a spirit that had threatened and tortured Ethan from the moment their buddy freed the evil coach from his trophy.

Evil artifacts like the haunted shaman mask didn't apply here, nor the destroyed crystal skull. Unlike Ethan, neither Benny nor Rory thought Hottie-Hotep to be a particularly threatening enemy . . . just a jerk given his attempt to carry Sarah away with him. And it was just plain stupid to think that the "evil tree" or the Debbie Dazzle doll were somehow involved _now_.

As for the various demons; the ones who infested the first Puffles and sundry animals; the gremlins; the dispatched Val Molerap; and the demon that possessed Sarah; Benny had it straight from his grandmother that not only were they good and gone, but demons who cast curses always use the real thing and never used counterfeits. That suggested a human evildoer. Or something that _was once human_.

The "really creepy" Anastasia and the duplicitous Jesse; Benny and Rory had personally seen them age, die and rot in minutes. So would any vampires going into the dark-energy devoid Whitechapel . . . that is unless they were young enough to simply be cured and mature to their real age instead. As for other vampires? Benny and Rory had seen them either lucifracted or die more traditional deaths, excepting the vampire-possessed car (did that count as a vamp, a ghost, or both?). And there was, of course, in a class of its own, the death of the insufferably vain Harlow, vampire councilman and confident of Esmeralda.

Looking back through the adventures, Benny was surprised to realize how much trouble he himself had caused! The "Lawn of the Dead", Benny and Hannah's evil twins, the love potion! The list went on and on. The crocodiles flushed down the school toilet with Benny's sport's potion was Rory's fault though . . . who put crocodiles in the toilet anyway!

"Nuh-uh" said Rory. "That was your fault. I put them there to hide them during a locker inspection. It's your fault for flushing them down with your potion."

"How should I know you had baby crocodiles there?" Benny protested. "Like I'm going to look inside a school toilet!

"Exactly, pal" said Rory. "That's why it was a good hiding place."

This was about the stupidest thing Benny ever heard.

"If you want to hide them in the toilet, you hide them in the tank" said Benny exasperatingly, "not in the bowl. That's just puke-worthy. You're just out of your mind to _even think_ of it!"

Rory frowned, unable to contend the point.

"Okay, then maybe it was . . . a binary poison type of thing. But all those other times were your fault."

"I didn't put on the medicine man's mask and get possessed" Benny said. "I also wasn't possessed by the evil tree! I didn't get Sarah possessed by fooling around with that crystal ball game by myself!"

"Love potions, demon-possessed animals, evil twins!" Rory contended. "Man, do you ever suck at magic!"

"You got yourself turned into a vampire . . . _the very first adventure_!" Benny returned, his voice cracking.

"I didn't know they existed! _You don't plan to be bitten in the neck by a vampire babe_!" Rory protested, his voice also turning discordant. Rory did remember something. "Besides, You asked out one of the hot vampire babe nurses. You could have been hunting rats with me for two years."

"Well, only one year . . . ." started Benny.

"and nine months" finished Rory.

The two doubled over with laughter.

"You know, there has to be something we can blame on Ethan" Benny observed when they cooled off.

"Ethan's too careful" said Rory. "I mean, Ethan can be a little uptight, but it really pays off."

"I got it" Benny said, snapping his fingers.

Benny half-expected to send a spark flying in the air, but as he was magic-less it didn't happen. He shrugged it off.

"Ethan entered the contest to go on a hunt with _Doug the Scare Finder_ , even though he knew you, Sarah and Erica had been turned into vampires."

"But the contest entries were before I got vampirized" Rory said. "Besides, Doug's awesome. It doesn't count."

"It _has to_ count" Benny returned. "What else can we blame on Ethan!"

After some more review, it turned out there were only two possible suspects . . . at least out of "Team Sabre's Rogue's gallery" as Benny put it.

First was Stephanie. She was a witch and was unnaturally happy. Sarah, Ethan and Benny had foiled her first evil scheme (Benny was careful not to tell Rory exactly how the scheme was foiled). Rory hadn't been involved; this went with Rory's not being targeted. Problem was that Evelyn Weir had hexed Stephanie's magic and she was _still_ working at the cafeteria. Evelyn had stated that whoever was behind the counterfeit curses had fled town. There was also the question of why Stephanie hadn't tried to curse Erica?

"As you said buddy, Erica thinks not being a bloodsucker is the punishment" Benny observed wryly.

Second was Stern. _Very_ powerful evil wizard. Stern could definitely make a counterfeit curse . . . or ten! Stern was even more powerful than Evelyn Weir! And who were the only people alive, of those who ruined his attempt to control the Lucifractor? Why, Sarah, Ethan and Benny! But . . . and this was a big problem . . . Stern had disappeared when the Lucifractor exploded. Sure, his body had never been found. And, _beyond_ Vampire HQ, the blast "only" knocked out the power and destroyed dark energy and cured bloodsuckers. But "Vampire HQ" itself had been reduced to nothing but small bits of rubble and a lot of dust by that explosion. And Stern had been handling the Lucifractor when it blew up!

"It's has to be one of the two" said Benny, as he thought hard. "If not . . . we've got no idea what we're doing or who we'll be looking for. I hate being Serious Benny, but if we don't do it . . . I'm Zombie Benny for the rest of my life. And I use the word life _really loosely_."

* * *

Ethan and Sarah reached the _Casa de Ajo_ at about ten to five. Fortunately, the teens were well before the evening rush and could talk to the owner, that _spicy_ older woman, Isabel Rodriguez.

It was also fortunate Sarah suggested Ethan not go home and put on his sombrero, poncho and Mexican blanket in an effort to make a good impression on his host.

Ms. Rodriguez herself didn't usually wear traditional Mexican clothing, saving it for special occasions as did most people in her birth country. Instead, she wore a low cut black dress that day, low enough to make Ethan forget what he was going to say.

"Well, young man" said Ms. Rodriguez. "What are you looking at?"

"We . . . uh . . ." tried Ethan, as he looked into Isabel Rodriguez's eyes.

Really, what he was thinking was " _Hottest . . . restauranteur . . . ever_."

Ethan recovered his thoughts when he realized Isabel's eyes were an icy blue, not nearly as attractive as Sarah's soothing brown ones.

"We're from the _Whitechapel High School Review_ " said Sarah, elbowing Ethan as she was annoyed with his mindless gaping. "We're starting a new series about food in different cultures, and where you can get it in Whitechapel. Most of the students at school typically eat fast food, and we thought we'd spread the word and support local community businesses."

Sarah and Ethan showed Isabel their press cards.

"That's a wonderful idea" said Isabel, as she examined the cards. "Don!"

A tall dark man in white shirt and pants arrived from the kitchen. He crossed his arms and looked down at Sarah and Ethan suspiciously.

"My boyfriend" said Isabel, with a smile. "Don Palliser. And he is a bit jealous, Ethan, so I'd watch my step."

At that "threat", Ethan again bristled. Ethan even had to give another swallow just then. He had wanted to growl and to bear his teeth as he felt threatened.

"Isabel's joking, young man" said Palliser. "What can I do for you two?"

Ethan swallowed again, and repeated their purpose.

"The only problem with given entree-sized Mexican dishes, is that it usually prices us above the high school crowd" Isabel reflected. "We've been considering doing some lunch specials to lure some more people in."

"I remember you" said Don Palliser, snapping his fingers. You ordered the _Carne Apache_ tacos, and your friend ordered the _tacos de sesos_. They're popular street foods in Mexico, but . . . but not very popular up here. We had friends tell us that in a small city that there wouldn't be much demand for the more obscure cuisine. We had hoped Whitechapel was different."

"Believe us" said Sarah wryly. "Whitechapel was different."

"There used to be a lot of people with a lot of funny ideas of food" Ethan couldn't help but elaborate.

"Well, I'm glad you, at least, are willing to give it a look. We've been considering dropping the _tacos de sesos_. There's not much of a market for beef brains."

" _Carne Apache_ we can keep" observed Isabel. "There's no difficulty in serving steak raw and soaked in lime juice, if someone wants it that way. That's right. I remember you too, now. You had that odd gift certificate."

Ethan and Sarah were alert at the words _odd gift certificate_.

"What was so funny about it?" asked Sarah

"Well, it was one of our gift certificates . . . the type that you buy. I don't remember who bought it, but whoever did wrote in an expiry date."

"To make us go on a certain day!" Ethan realized with a groan.

"Why, yes" said Isabel. "I wonder who? You know it's been illegal for several years in Ontario to place an expiry date on most gift certificates and gift cards. Expiry dates are only legal if we were to give them out for a specific meal, or service, or free appetizers or two for one."

"That's what they were" said Sarah.

'No, they weren't" insisted Isabel. "Here, come into my office. We can talk until the dinner crowd arrives. About the forgery and your news article too."

In two cloth chairs, Sarah and Ethan sat in front of the Ms. Rodriguez' desk and looked at the gift certificates. They were long slips of paper, with the value of the certificate in ink on the top and _Casa de Ajo_ in green white and red letters. But the fraudulent expiry dates and the meal limitations (for free appetizers, etc) were added in black type underneath.

Benny hadn't paid too much attention, he was getting free meals after all. But not Mrs. Farnum? Not even Evelyn. But why?

Ethan considered. The place was a local restaurant, there was no expectation of a professional print job! Furthermore, the counterfeiter used the guise of a charitable donation to the bingo to make everything seem legitimate! Evelyn was attending an event run by friends for church and other charity groups, she wasn't much concerned so it even slipped past her keen eyes.

"It certainly is odd" said Isabel, shaking Ethan from his thoughts. "Well, no need to hold onto them."

"Wait" tried Ethan, "We could . . . ."

But before either Ethan or Sarah could stop her, Ms. Rodriguez picked the certificates and fed them into a shredder.

The good news, at least, was Isabel Rodriguez's laptop was on her desk, and it wasn't locked and password-protected. In fact a file folder reading "security footage" was clearly in view. But Isabel was there. So Ethan and Sarah had little to do but ask about Ms. Rodriguez's goals for her restaurant and to talk about Mexican food. To make matters worse, Don Palliser kindly gave them a plate of _Carne Apache_ nachos.

Ethan felt all too hungry at the sight of the raw meat, although he held back he felt like cramming the stuff into his mouth by the handful? Had he gotten that bad in only three days?

Meanwhile Sarah felt like throwing up as she politely took a nacho. After all she had gone through, the idea of eating anything raw and bloody now made her sick!

"I'm on a bit of a diet" she lied.

"I realize it's an acquired taste" smiled Isabel politely.

But this gave Ethan an idea. "I think we ought to have a picture" he said. "Maybe of you, Ms. Rodriguez, at the front of the restaurant. That ought to attract business?"

Ethan was sincere about that. _Hottest restauranteur ever_. But it would also give him a chance to copy the security footage to the flash drive in his wallet.

Sarah realized what Ethan was suggesting.

"Let's use my smart phone" she said. "We'll leave Ethan to finish typing . . . and the nachos."

"Maybe you can take one with Mr. Palliser?" Ethan added. "With his chef's hat?"

"You mean . . ." started Isabel, miming a tall hat.

Sarah and Isabel both giggled as they left the room, leaving Ethan confused.

"Ethan's a cool guy where it counts" Ethan heard Sarah say as the door closed. "But he gets carried away."

Ethan, smiling over the compliment, rushed to the computer. The security footage was neatly arranged by date. He quickly copied the folder for Saturday on his 16 GB flash drive.

Then Ethan, on his way back to the seat, spied most of the raw steak covered nachos sitting there. He stretched his hand out to have a few . . . and have a few more.

In a few minutes, Sarah and Isabel arrived back to see the nachos all gone and Ethan sitting rather embarrassed in his chair in front of the desk, avoiding their gaze.

"That's fine" said Isabel, spicily. "I love to see a man with a healthy appetite. Though how you ate that so fast . . . ."

"I guess we've got to be going now. said Ethan awkwardly, springing up and going out the door without much to say. "Thanks."

* * *

An hour later, Team Sabre had reunited in Benny's living room. In spite of everything, Benny being up and . . . behind his new sunglasses . . . back to his old self cheered everyone. Even Rory's echoing Ethan's declaration that Isabel Rodriguez was the " _hottest restauranteur ever_ " was okay.

"So our lead suspects are Stephanie and Stern" said Ethan.

"And Grandma's going to give me some sort of magical version of _sodium thiopental_ to put in her coffee tomorrow" Benny put in. "Magical but more reliable."

" _Sodium thiopental_?" asked Sarah.

"It's used for truth serum" Ethan explained.

"But way more reliable" Benny put in. "As good as this video we're going to see."

"Okay, connect it" said Sarah exasperated.

"Got it" said Rory, as he came up for air from behind the boxy CRT television in the Weir living room. "Benny, when's your grandma going to a flatscreen digital? Or better yet, a Smart TV"

"As she says" said Benny with a smirk, "when this one breaks or when pigs fly on their own power."

"And why, dear" said Evelyn, who walked into the room and sat on the sofa, "should I replace a perfectly good television set?"

"It's square and only thirty-two inches" Benny protested.

"When I was a girl, our television was round, black-and-white and only twelve inches" said Evelyn, in a voice that told Benny the matter was settled . . . at least for now.

The surveillance video was colour, but silent. The group had to squint a little, as the picture was divided into four - recording four different camera angles at once. The front door, the back door, the inside front entrance and the inside restaurant. Ethan fast-forwarded to 7:00 pm. By good fortune, the booth where Ethan, Sarah, Benny and Della had been sitting was in the foreground.

Sarah couldn't help but admire herself on video at first. But she looked carefully, and couldn't help but start . . . .

"Over there!" said Benny. "Ethan! It's an _Invisible Man_."

"Or Woman" added Sarah, as she looked at the unseen enemy.

"No fair!" Rory protested.

Ethan swallowed, as he felt another growl coming on. Evelyn for her part, was silent and looked very stern.

The front door to the restaurant had opened . . . by itself. Isabel Rodriguez was interrupted in guiding a couple in their twenties when the man stubbed his toe in mid-air and cried out.

A chair at a corner table, way on the other side of the restaurant from the four teens in the booth, moved away by itself.

"They wanted to be far away from me" said Ethan, in a glum voice.

"Yes" said Evelyn coldly. "So you wouldn't discover them. They knew you were a seer and very dangerous to their scheme . . . until your curse blocked your gift."

"There goes Della" narrated Sarah, coolly as the five watched Della rush off to the washroom.

"Poor girl" said Evelyn. "Some people, through no fault of their own, aren't able to handle things out of the ordinary. Benny's mother is a little like Della in that way."

"Grandma!" Benny protested.

"And there I am" continued Sarah, as the five watched the past Sarah shrug, leave the booth and walk off to the washrooms after Della.

Across the restaurant, a box suddenly appeared as if taken out of an invisible jacket. It was placed on the table by an invisible hand. The box opened.

"It looks like fireworks" said Rory. "Three black skyrockets. _Black fireworks? What good are black fireworks?_ "

"They certainly aren't any good" said Evelyn grimly. "And if your dog Krypto was there, dear, he would have smelt the faint scent of sulphur and brimstone. You see, they aren't fireworks. But a sort of pre- prepared black magic, designed to attack their targets when released."

"How come we didn't see . . . or smell . . .this in the restaurant ourselves?" Benny protested.

"You know well that sometimes things in clear sight are invisible in photographs?" said Evelyn. "Sometimes the opposite is also true. What's invisible to the human eye is revealed in a picture. Have you ever heard of cameras taking pictures of ghosts where the photographer had never seen anything out of the ordinary?"

The black "skyrockets" blasted off. Two skyrockets shot into the air, turned, made a line to Benny and Ethan and hit them. Benny and Ethan were obscured for a moment by black magical smoke, that had been intangible to all at the time. When it clear, there were the two dazed and confused by the shock. And that one lightbulb on the wall flickering to boot.

As for the last rocket, it now shot up, careened wildly in circles, finally aimed itself at the washrooms . . . but was somehow doused in midair and fell harmlessly to the ground and disappeared.

"That was meant for me" said Sarah, as she knew well what it would have done had it worked.

"Lucky it was always going to a dud, Sarah" said Ethan earnestly. "Better me than you."

And although Sarah was by no means soft, she hugged Ethan for the sentiment.

Rory gave the two a thumbs up, but looked again at the video as the invisible person pocketed the box and went out the front door. He concentrated his face, and tried to think of what it meant but could get no more reasonable answer than Stern or Stephanie went in invisible.

"I don't think that rocket would have worked . . . at all" Benny said to his grandmother, in an unusually quiet tone. "No dark energy?"

"But think Benny" Evelyn said. "This means whoever released those spells didn't know that."

"And that's not the same guy . . . or girl who set those spells up" Benny concluded.

"Naturally, dear" concluded Evelyn coldly, "but this same _dumbbell_ managed to set off the skills . . .and invisible manipulated the bingo chips so I'd win that wretched prize."


	9. High Hopes and Desperate Measures

**High Hopes and Desperate Measures**

Benny was actually excited to go back to school. This was the day he was going to place the whole "zombie-thing" behind him. And in the meantime . . . those sunglasses with the side-guards?

Yeah, they didn't suck so much as he thought! He did look like Cyclops of the _X-Men_. Too bad Benny couldn't shoot laser beams out of his eyes. It might make it _almost_ worth while.

"Way cooler to shoot laser and lightning from your hands" Benny said to himself.

And, of course, Benny wasn't forgetting Della. Really, his first _bonafide_ girlfriend.

"And it's not as if I'm interested in her for her brains" said Benny contemptuously. "That came out wrong. I mean not interested in her brains _in the eating_ way."

Benny slid down his banister that morning, but not being especially agile collapsed in an awkward heap at the bottom of the stairs.

Evelyn Weir offered her zombie-grandson a hand, and was pleased to see him again, personality-wise, back to himself.

Benny proudly stood up himself, telling his grandmother it was "okay". Benny collected his note from his grandmother and went outside after a fond goodbye.

As for Evelyn, in spite of her overall spirits, it tugged at her heart to see Benny decked in those glasses.

"I hope his mother never has to find out" she said, shaking her head as she made her way to the living room.

* * *

Benny wasn't surprised to see Ethan waiting on the sidewalk (Ethan often walked to school with Benny), but Benny was pleased to see Sarah there. Vainly, Benny's first thought was she might have a crush on him! But Benny quickly realized, with appreciation, that Sarah had gone out of her way to welcome him back.

And floored that Sarah even gave him a friendly hug.

Sarah thought Benny acted like a jerk, but she considered him a friend and was definitely happy to see him off his sick bed. And hopefully ready to assist in the takedown of the unknown weirdos who were ruining their lives.

Sarah and Benny were a little disappointed that Ethan tensed up and visibly swallowed a lump in his throat at the sight of the two hugging.

"It was going to be a growl" Ethan explained sheepishly. "I . . . I . . . I'm not really jealous, the instincts are bad but I've gotten them mostly under control.

"It's okay" said Sarah. "I understand. Do you think I'd have ever gone yellow eyed and fanged every-time if I had the chance?"

"Even when you were using your super-strength?" asked Benny.

"Not even then" said Sarah. "In fangs I never trusted."

"Yeah" Benny said. "If zombies had any powers _worth-while_ , or counterfeit zombies did, I'd still drop the vacant black eyeballs."

"I'm just lucky that werewolves' fangs don't grow until the full moon" Ethan said with a weak grin.

"How much are you swallowing like that?" said Benny.

" _A lot_ " Ethan replied tersely.

Benny was silent a second.

"Otherwise you growl" observed Benny. "I'm okay. I keep my head as long as everyone else' brains are kept tightly in their skulls and I've got enough sausages to eat. But it's a pain . . . and it's going to end today."

"By interrogating the witch with the magical version of _sodium thiopental_ " said Ethan, with a full grin this time.

* * *

Rory was waiting for the three of them at the corner of the quiet street that led to his own home on an even quieter cul-de-sac. This was almost as unusual as Sarah detouring to meet Benny. It was _really_ boring just standing at that corner waiting! Going home with his pals, of course, was different.

"Whazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz up!" said Rory, really drawing it out in honour of Benny's return.

"Whazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz up!" returned Benny, as Ethan couldn't do it nearly so well.

"Those glasses look cool after all" Rory observed. "You really look like Cyclops now!"

Sarah rolled her eyes, but nonetheless shared a fist bump with the geeks as Team Sabre headed for school.

"How are we going to get Stephanie to take the _sodium thiopental_?" asked Rory, as Benny held up a vial of a sickening green fluid.

"Put it in her coffee" said Benny. "I hear she drinks a lot. I mean, coffee."

"Almost as if she finds being one of cafeteria workers is a let down" said Ethan.

"Poetic justice" said Sarah cooly.

"Huh?" said Rory.

"I mean it's her punishment given how _evil_ she was, trying to steal the souls of everyone at school so she could be a teenager" said Sarah.

"Now she has to serve all students their lunch" Ethan said, reflectively. "And work with the lunch ladies she snubbed."

"And go around school all old and wrinkled" Benny added with a smirk.

"But how are we going to drug her?" said Sarah bluntly. "And where will we drug her?"

"I had an idea last night" said Ethan. "Benny still has that magic ring at school."

"Magic ring?" said Rory.

"It's awesome" said Benny.

That ring allowed the wearer to appear as _anyone_. Benny had recovered it from Vice Principal Stern after the events of "lucifractor night."

"I can appear as Principal Hicks" said Ethan. "Take her out of the cafeteria"

"Dude" Benny began. " _You_ can't!"

"Why not?" said Ethan. "I think I can do a good Principal Hicks impersonation. And there's a school board meeting Wednesday afternoons. I can get Stephanie at lunch and meet her in Hick's office. Sarah and you guys can listen from that file room he has."

"Buddy, it's not that impersonating Hicks isn't an _awesome_ idea. It's that _you_ can't do it" said Benny. "Two reasons. You're a walking time bomb . . . .

"Time bomb?" said Ethan, disconcerted.

"Time bomb for anyone with magic powers" Benny continued. "Remember the _canis lupis_ spell?"

"The one that turned me into a werewolf the first time?" said Ethan angrily, in a voice so much like a growl it made everybody, including Ethan, wince.

"Man!" said Rory.

As for Sarah, looking at Ethan's embarrassed face, she took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. She wasn't one to lose her temper, but it was dismaying to see Ethan subject to a supernatural curse. Maybe next worse to the bloodsucker's. The guy who had always stood by her and tried to fight the evils that plagued the town. And . . . here he was barely able to control himself. And . . . the full moon was still eleven days away. And . . . Ethan seemed to be getting worse every day.

And . . . Sarah didn't even consider that the same perp had tried to make her a vampire!

"Anyone with magic can use it on you, Ethan" Benny went on to explain. "And you'll be a werewolf, near-instant."

"I thought you said that werewolves couldn't turn into werewolves anytime" Rory protested.

"Not by themselves" said Benny. "But . . . uh, I was also wrong about that. There's another exception. I think the real committed wolves also have a potion they make with human blood as the key ingredient. A swig turns them. But . . . your reluctant ones don't."

"You can trust me not to drink human blood" spat Ethan. "But what's the second reason I can't wear the ring."

Benny opened his mouth to answer, but then realized that Ethan probably wouldn't want Sarah to know. So Benny lied, "That's it. There wasn't a second reason. I miscounted."

"Typical" Sarah scoffed, but added more kindly, "You're probably just drowsy."

Rory grinned. Given how many times Benny had mocked Rory's own "mathlete" skills, it was awesome to see him mess up something so easy as _counting to one_.

Ethan, however, never knew Benny to make that type of mistake, and was suspicious.

Nonetheless, with Ethan disqualified, the question remained, who would wear the ring? The choice of "counterfeit principal" (as Benny put it; Sarah objected to the further use of counterfeit "anything") fell between Benny, Sarah and Rory. Sarah was, naturally, extremely reluctant to be a middle-aged man. Rory thought it was a cool idea, but Rory wasn't anyone's first job to go "undercover."

"I was awesome undercover" Rory insisted. "Remember the vamps at the beach? It wasn't my fault they saw my contacts!"

"Three words, Rory" said Ethan. " _Draining an elephant._ "

The job fell to Benny. Yet Ethan still wondered what "the second reason" was he couldn't wear the ring. Ethan remained curious . . . .

* * *

Even as Benny went to Della, and struggled to find a way to kiss her without shoving his side-shield sunglasses into her face . . . or maybe even worse . . . .

"Showing her my vacant, pupil-less black counterfeit zombie eyeballs" thought Benny, a bit depressed.

But Benny made it work, and wasn't the least bit depressed afterwards.

* * *

That is, until the three boys' first class. They were seated at their desks; the din of conversation in the class assured they wouldn't be overheard. It was then Ethan demanded to know the second reason he could not be Principal Hicks.

"Dude" said Benny. "It would have been awkward to explain in front of Sarah."

"Okay, Benny" said Ethan, impatiently, "Sarah's not here right now."

"Well, how you look now" said Benny, confused on how best to explain it, "isn't how you really look."

"Huh?" said Ethan and Rory.

"It's complicated" said Benny.

"Just tell me" said Ethan.

"I mean it's a holdover" said Benny. "Of how you looked . . . naturally. Whatever your counterfeit werewolf curse is doing to you . . . mentally . . . it won't get a chance to do anything physically to you until the full moon."

"When I _would_ turn into a werewolf" said Ethan, with careful emphasis. " _If_ the curse stayed on."

"Uh-huh" said Benny. "But you turn into Hicks, when you turn back there's nothing to keep you looking the way . . . you look."

"Ethan would turn into a werewolf?" asked Rory, surprised. "Right now?"

"No" said Benny. "Ethan, you'll look like a werewolf in human form. That wouldn't normally happen to you until _the morning after_ your first night as a werewolf. Werewolves never turn back fully after their first night out. From then on they look the part of someone cursed with lycanthropy. Can you believe there's a word for it . . . lycanthropy? It should _really_ be called werewolfism."

"You know, there's a word for throwing something out the window" said Rory, distractedly. "It's called defenestrate. It sounds like something you'd do if you had lice."

"I . . . get it" said Ethan distastefully. "And I'm not talking about defenestration. I'll look like David did. That's the last way I want to look in front of Sarah. She wasn't the least impressed by the guy."

"Well" said Rory optimistically, "it won't be that bad, buddy. Sarah likes you _for you_. Besides, you'll be the first one of us to shave. And you'll also be able to pass for a guy in his twenties. At least 19. You could get into bars and nightclubs."

"And get a bad case of fleas" Ethan groaned. "And have to get deloused. Rory, that's the word to get ride of lice."

"I know that" Rory objected. "I just said defenestratation _sounds_ like . . . ."

"Werewolf is more severe than weredog" Benny put in. "It'll be more like you looked when I contacted you, night of the full moon. Well, dude, a lot of hair gel, a good shave would get your looking normal. But . . . it's a really sloppy curse. You may sport pointed ears and maybe a couple fangs too."

"They'll retract" said Rory, encouragingly to Ethan. "You can hide them. Like I did as a bloodsucker."

"They'll be permanent" said Benny. "The only way you'll have to hide them, keep from showing too much of your teeth. Grandma watches an old show called _The Munsters_ once in a while. There's a little werewolf kid called Eddie with fangs and pointed ears. You'll look a cross between Eddie Munster and David Stochowski before-the-wrist-watch once you change back to Ethan."

"I'm not wearing the ring" said Ethan decidedly. "But what about you? Won't you turn into a flesh-rotting zombie?"

"Completely different" said Benny casually. "My curse sucks the life out of me . . . your curse is turning you into something. Uh . . . yeah."

"That's a little creepy" said Rory with distaste, while Ethan shuddered.

Phrasing it as "sucking the life out of him" even gave Benny a cold chill. This is in spite of the fact his blood wasn't even circulating.

* * *

Just before noon, Benny sauntered down the school hallway as Principal Hicks.

"The counterfeit Principal Hicks" Benny thought. "Or Principal Benny Weir. Or just Principal Benny.

Principal Benny casual tread wasn't much like that of Principal Hicks slow but steady march. The fact the large magical ring was on his finger was also a giveaway. But most obvious of all, Benny was stuck wearing his sunglasses. The ring couldn't conceal his dead eyes.

"I see you're dating Benny" Principal Benny told Della, as he passed her at her locker.

Della looked a little surprised.

"Uh, yes, I am" she said.

"You know I always trust Benny to look after my dog" said Principal Benny. "He's the world's greatest dog-sitter."

"I know" said Della. "Puffles II loves him. Dogs are such a great judge of character! That's why Benny gets along so well with Krypto, his friend's dog. It's only too bad."

"What is?" asked Principal Benny.

"Benny can't have a dog of his own, because his grandmother is allergic" said Della.

"Just remember not to tell her that" said Principal Benny quickly.

"Why?" asked Della

Principal Benny stalled.

"Because people who are allergic to dogs are really sensitive about it" said Principal Benny. "Especially old people like Grandma . . . Benny's Grandma and me. Well . . . uh . . . I've got to go and do some more principal stuff."

Principal Benny quickly walked away, leaving Della confused.

* * *

In another hallway, Erica was living a real live fantasy. Second _only_ to having been a vampire. Two guys, _two guys in letterman jackets_ , were almost at blows _over her_.

Didn't it annoy a strong, intelligent girl to be argued over _like property_? In theory, Erica realized it should have been really insulting! Sarah wouldn't have stood for it under any circumstances! But . . . this was fun! Romantic! Exciting! And the guys were both _hot_! Erica leaned back on her locker, standing between her erstwhile beaus, enjoying every second.

Bill Vanlake, who was throwing the wild party Saturday. Jock, bully, preppy, Erica thought he was hot. _Vampire material_. Knew the high life. She had plans for Friday night with him. And maybe going to the party early.

Tom Towers, who had gone on a few _intense_ dates with Erica. Jock, star athlete in fact. Would have been excellent _vampire material_. But he was dim, and too friendly to geeks. And his addiction to cowboy movies was annoying.

"Look Vanlake" said Towers, rolling up his sleeves. "I'm a patient guy, but I've had enough. I'm warning you to stop riding me. First you rile me every chance you get. Then you go after my girlfriend. I-I'm warning you. That jacket's going to be red . . . not with the school colours but with blood before I'm done. You know I'm ten times the man you are. And a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!"

"Why don't you _git along to the chuck wagon_ , Towers" sneered Vanlake, insouciantly standing with his hands in his pockets. "You're watched one Western too many; you're too much of a dork to hold onto Erica. She's moving on to someone more to her taste."

"Taste" observed Erica, somewhat regretfully. "If only that were still true."

"A real man is the guy to her taste" said Towers, who took this as validation. "A guy with a good '99 Chevy Silverado, a baseball scholarship. One who didn't get his parents to spend 30K on a MiniCooper."

"Don't say anything against Cheryl" said Vanlake. "I'm warning you, Towers."

"You named it? You go out and get . . . ."

The argument devolved into profanity. That was fine with Erica, but, sadly, the fight involved sports and automobiles as much as it did her. Impatiently, she looked down the hall to see Principal Hicks jauntily walking forward. With a ring on his finger. And the sunglasses Benny was wearing that morning. Ignoring the swearing and threats in easy earshot.

"Benny!" said Erica, leaving her boyfriends to argue amongst themselves. "I'm going to see what he's doing."

Zombies, counterfeit or not, didn't have good hearing, so Principal Benny didn't hear Erica until it was too late.

Erica swiped the ring from the principal, suddenly coming face to face with the actual teenage (zombie) Benny.

"This is some ring you have here" she said, cagily holding it. "I think I'll keep it. If you won't explain how it works, I can get Ethan or that idiot Rory . . . ."

There was a flash. Then another. Benny jumped back.

Erica shouldn't have said Ethan or Rory, while mentally visualizing the two. And definitely not "Ethan or that idiot Rory." For one second Ethan stood in front of Benny. Then Rory was there, and Rory stayed there.

"What is it?" asked the fake Rory.

"Are you still Erica?" said Benny.

"Why?" she said. "I sound . . . like . . . NOOO!"

Erica looked in the mirror she had recently placed in her locker, only to see Rory.

"Dude" said Benny mischievously, thinking of things _he_ knew Erica hated. "Are you still looking into going to that comic book convention in Niagara Falls this spring? Grandma says I can come along, if it's during March Break. It'll be cool."

"Eww! Gross!" cried the fake Rory. "Get this thing off of me."

With that, Erica removed the ring and was Erica once again. She threw it off onto the floor.

"I need to get to the Girl's showers" Erica groaned. "And wash off the stench of adolescent geek!"

She hurried off.

Benny watched Erica's retreat. He looked at the ring. It hadn't occur to him that he could use it to sneak into the girl's change rooms. Benny smirked . . . but he quickly changed his mind.

But then he'd have to literally change himself into a girl instead of just wear a disguise! And what if his grandmother found out!

Benny decided he'd better not try it. He put on the ring and was again Principal Benny.

He went to the cafeteria to speak to Stephanie.

* * *

Ethan, Sarah and Rory had managed to steal into the file room adjoining Principal Hicks' office. It had been easy, as the secretary was out for lunch in the staff room and the doors had been left unlocked.

Sarah had been playing with her phone, while Ethan was visibly trying _not_ to sniff what to him was an overpowering odour of bleach on the white floors and walls. Rory had tried to look into the files labelled "K" for Keener, but gave up when he realized _they, at least_ were all locked.

"I can smell the bleach too" said Sarah to Ethan. "Don't sweat everything. You don't have to go so far as accept it _as you_ , but you don't have to take everything as a disaster. It'll make it worse."

"There's something to said to be calm about it" Ethan agreed, looking into Sarah's eyes and silently thanking her for the unsolicited advice.

"Yeah" said Rory, as he decided to "chill" lying on the floor with his backpack as a pillow. "Take it from two ex-vampires. Just roll with it as best as you can. And you'll be way more human than you think you are."

"They're here" interrupted Sarah, as she, and not Ethan, first heard the door of the outer office open.

* * *

Principal Benny had a strange feeling talking to Stephanie. Not because he was Principal Benny. But because she was so cheerful and relaxed!

"It's a nice day for November, Ishmael" observed Stephanie, looking out the window. "We don't get 55 too often."

" _Ishmael_?" said Benny.

"Your name" said Stephanie. "The staff always uses first names. You say its friendlier."

"I do?" said Benny. "Yeah, I do. But how is it 55? We'd be broiling. Oh, I get it. You're using Fahrenheit. My grandma uses it all the time."

"BENNY!" groaned Ethan and Sarah together.

Rory just laughed.

"That's about 13" he said casually.

"I didn't know your grandmother was still alive" said Stephanie.

"Our family lives a long time" Benny said. "But I thought, uh, never mind that. Uh, I wanted to talk about your work here. _Privately_. I thought you might want a cup of coffee."

"Why, Ishmael" said Stephanie coyly. "Are you flirting with me? But you, a married man! Then again . . . those glasses of yours are so hot!"

Principal Benny looked at her queasily enough.

"How could I resist a babe like you? But, no, just a talk about if you're going to continue on. Because you're old and might want to retire soon. Now let me get those cups. They're in the file room."

Stephanie giggled girlishly as Benny retreated to the file room.

* * *

Ethan handed Principal Benny the cups.

"Blue one is drugged, _World's Best Principal_ mug is okay" Sarah said.

"You suck at being undercover" said Rory, as Principal Benny left.

"Watch it, Rory" said Principal Benny, stepping back in for a moment. "Or you'll get detention until graduation."

* * *

"This isn't that _Lotta Latte_ brand?" said Stephanie.

"Believe me, I hate it more than you" said Principal Benny dryly.

He grinned suspiciously until Stephanie took a sip. Immediately, Stephanie sat up straight as a ramrod.

"She's okay!" said Principal Benny, taking off his ring and reverting to the actual Benny.

The actual Benny stretched. At sixteen years old, he was now taller than Hicks and somehow felt cramped after the imitation. Even as a zombie!

Ethan, Sarah, and Rory walked into the room, Sarah making sure to lock the office door.

"You can't believe how _boring_ it is talking to her" complained Benny. "And it's as if she's been _lobotomized_. She's so dense. Not like she used to be. I mean, even when she was no longer hot, she was plenty smart.

"When is she going to talk?" asked Sarah. "I thought _sodium thiopental_ was supposed to make her real loose?"

"Any moment" said Benny confidently. "This is the magical version, so it works _a little_ differently."

"Lucky your grandma made it" said Rory. "So we'll know it'll work."

Benny's retort was forestalled by a series of giggles from Stephanie.

"I'm missing lunch hour" she said. "I have a day off!"

"Because you hate serving the students whose souls you tried to steal!" suggested Ethan.

"Oh, I love the students!" insisted Stephanie. "And if by serving them lunch, giving them their change, wishing them a nice day and making them yummy, nutritious food . . . .

"Yummy, nutritious food?" interrupted Sarah.

"Yummy, nutritious food" continued Stephanie with a titter. "I only wish I could give it out for free. It would really make up for what I once did."

"But you could do it again with your magic!" hinted Sarah.

"I hadn't any magic since my dear old friend Evelyn took it away" said Stephanie.

"Your dear old friend?" said Rory, crossing his eyes at the mind-boggling statement.

"Oh, I was jealous of her" said Stephanie. "So jealous! But she was a _true_ cheerleader. She did pep rallies, kissing booths, charity drives, car washes, led snake dances. Oh, she was so attractive and so graceful! Every guy in school wanted a date with her!"

"She was hot" said Ethan. "You could see it in her yearbook photo."

"Where is it?" asked Rory. "I want to see a copy."

"Shut up Rory" snapped Benny, cringing at the compliment. "Or I don't care how un-dead I am, you'll be _truly_ dead."

"She was so kind to everybody" Stephanie continue. "Of course, on April Fools Day she was a bit of terror with magical pranks, but that was just letting off steam.

"Grandma?" said Benny, quickly cheering up and deeply interested. "What did she do?"

"Oh, buckets of water on doors" Stephanie said. "Silver dollars stuck to the floor. Two foot puddles that only looked two inches deep. Once she placed a magical firecracker in my locker."

"Did she ever do worms-in . . . ." started Benny.

"No, she never used magic to torture anyone. In fact, outside April Fools, the only trick she like to use was giving a boy an extra nipple if he wasn't a gentleman and tried to get fresh on a date" said Stephanie.

"I know she loves that spell" said Benny hurriedly, who found the idea of a boy being fresh with his grandmother sickening. "But . . . ."

"Never mind that" said Sarah. "Go back to your magic powers."

"As a cheerleader, using black magic for a stolen chance at youth, I didn't understand what being a cheerleader was _all_ about. I thought being a cheerleader was to run a clique, and abuse the unpopular girls. And make fun of pathetic geeks like you three teens here.

"At least she's the same on one point" said Benny sardonically.

"But I know better now. I never _really_ deserved being a cheerleader. I'm happy Evelyn hexed my magic. It allows me to be a pleasant lunch lady in my old age."

"Do you have anything else to say?" suggested Sarah gently.

Stephanie went on about various things; the beauty of a summer day, a gentle breeze, the sunshine, large snowflakes falling from the sky. Finally she yawned, and dozed off.

"Is she really the evil witch everyone says she is?" said Rory, looking at the sleeping old women, again with cross-eyed perplexity.

"Benny's right" said Ethan wryly. "She _has_ been lobotomized."

"She can't be telling the truth" Sarah said skeptically. "She sounds so . . . so . . . fake."

"She can't be lying" corrected Benny. "I don't believe it, but she's done a complete 180."

Team Sabre looked long and hard at the sleeping woman. But it seemed as if she'd changed.

"This leaves Stern as our prime and only suspect" said Benny, as he examined the ring.

He was careful not to activate it.

"And how will we find out if he's alive or dead" Sarah said, crossing her arms. "Nobody's seen him since the lucifractor was destroyed."

Ethan had an idea. But . . . he looked at Sarah. Not unless she agreed! He owed that to her!

"I have an idea" said Ethan, looking around. "It's desperate, but Sarah, if you'll go along with me, we can try it. But . . . given what happened last time."

"Dude, get to the point" said Benny. "We have to leave before Stephanie wakes up."

"If we can't find Stern in this world, maybe we can find him in another" said Ethan. "Or at least learn if he isn't there."

"You're right, Ethan" Benny said, finishing the thought. "If Stern hasn't gone up to his reward . . . as they used to say . . . we can reach him by that _Spirit Speaker_ board."

"I'm game if you guys are" volunteered Rory.

Sarah hesitated. Having been possessed by a demon the last time the three geeks had tried their luck with that game, it was very natural. But . . . .

"It might be the only chance to find if Stern's behind this" Sarah concluded. "I'm in too."

* * *

Team Sabre left for a hurried lunch, leaving the peacefully sleeping Stephanie behind. That is, all but Sarah. She came back to stare at Stephanie.

"There's something wrong here" she said. "You don't have to be a seer to know it."

But seeing way of proving it, Sarah closed the door to the Principal's office and decided to see if she could have a word with Erica before taking in a happily _still_ blood-and-brain free meal.


	10. The Spirit Speaker is Silenced Forever

**The Spirit Speaker is Silenced Forever**

Thursday went by without Team Sabre trying their luck at _Spirit Speaker_. There was just no place to "play" it.

Ethan hadn't anywhere to run the seance with his parents and sister at home. Maybe his room? But chances were the sound would travel and his mom and dad would overhear. How could Ethan possibly explain that? Well, the game had been in the _Morgan's_ basement! Ethan could say it was _their_ game. But . . . if something went wrong, Ethan couldn't exactly handle his parents or sister being possessed.

So Ethan spent his time that evening doing something he hoped no one . . . especially not Sarah . . . discovered. On his way home, Ethan made an excuse to ditch Benny and Rory. Ethan took a quick detour to _Canadian Tire_ for some flea shampoo. He had his first fleabite that morning and things had started going downhill that afternoon.

"Even _head lice_ would be less humiliating" Ethan muttered, wondering where in fact the fleas had found him out. "At least _normal people_ get lice."

* * *

Sarah's house was also out of the question. For one thing, Sarah wasn't eager to have a seance in her home. As far as she was concerned, ever since she was cured of being a vampire, her house was a supernatural-free zone! But, more importantly, like Ethan, there were too many explanations and the remote but terrifying possibility of your parents being possessed!

Sarah spent an hour on the phone with Erica, as she described the fight that afternoon between Bill Vanlake and Tom Towers over her. Tom won with only a black eye and sprained hand to show for it.

"So he dates you because he won a fight?" Sarah said sarcastically.

"Isn't it so romantic?" Erica replied. "It's like two knights fighting for my hand. The only thing missing is if they were immortals."

"Then their punches would have really travelled" said Sarah cooly.

But Sarah remembered how Ethan had handicapped a fight between Erica and her, and even (along with Benny) made a poster on their comparative "stats". Ethan, of course, had confidently predicted Sarah would win. Sarah smiled in spite of herself.

* * *

Rory had volunteered his parents' heated two-car garage. But Ethan, and everyone else, vetoed the idea of playing the game anywhere near heavy tools that could tossed about and let one of them get brained. And if the blow didn't kill them, no one wanted to see what would happen once Benny smelt fresh blood from the human head . . . including Benny.

So, Rory played with Krypto, who he felt like he had been neglecting the past couple days.

* * *

Benny's house would have been a natural place for the seance . . . but Benny wasn't sure his grandmother would like the idea. The _reasonable_ thing would be to talk it over with her. But, Benny had never fully described what went on the night of the Senior's Dance, almost two-years ago.

Benny hadn't been doing his homework all week. After all, if you're turned into a zombie, why should you have to do homework? Unfortunately, Benny's grandmother didn't agree. So homework was what Benny did Thursday night after a long web-cam talk with his dad. Benny only phoned his mother, to avoid "sunglass questions". As for Evelyn Weir herself: she spent hours in her special room and worked and studied volumes so old and dusty they made the book she gave Benny look downright new in comparison.

* * *

Naturally, the seance was again held in Ethan's home, during Ethan's parents Friday night date-night.

"Okay" said Ethan, as he looked around his room taking stock. "Taken second and hopefully last shower with flea shampoo?

 _Check._

Wearing my cool shirt with the skulls on it, the same I wore for the last seance.

 _Check._

Four dish towels . . . I still don't get it . . . to tie around our heads.

 _Check._

 _Debbie Dazzle's Swiss Ski Party_ Blu-Ray to keep Jane busy until her bedtime.

 _Check._

Lending . . . lending Jane my laptop with optional Blu-Ray drive so she can watch it, because she doesn't have a TV or computer in her room.

 _Check_.

Extra-large Mediterranean Pizza with Garlic Bread and Cheese and bottles of root beer and coca cola? I really want the Meat-Lovers Special tonight . . . but Mediterranean's my favourite. And I draw the line at changing my favourite pizza toppings . . . I don't want anyone to think I'm going all werewolf . . .

 _Check._

And, who can forget, my UV light-sabre with new retractable blade? Okay, it won't do anything for spirits, but it's too awesome to leave up here!

 _Check."_

Ethan's grin turned into a anticipatory frown as he opened his closet door.

"Seriously old, seriously dangerous _Spirit Speaker_ brought down from under several cardboard boxes in attic? That under no condition will I leave Rory alone with it!

 _Check."_

Ethan had hidden the _Spirit Speaker_ in the attic, just to get it out of the basement. The Morgans did their laundry there and Ethan hadn't been interested in seeing it again . . . even if it was hidden in a dusty corner.

* * *

"Putting on cologne to impress Sarah?" asked Ethan's father, when Ethan went to see them off.

"Cocoanut?" said Ethan's mother. "A bit Hawaiian."

"I wouldn't have gone so far, Ethan" Ethan's father suggested, wrinkling his nose.

"I didn't use anymore than I absolutely needed" said Ethan. "I swear!"

Not the least reason was that the cocoanut smell came from the flea shampoo.

* * *

To Ethan's annoyance, everybody had something to say about the smell.

"You smell like you put on an entire bottle of sun screen" said Jane, as she was looking out the window waiting for Sarah to arrive.

* * *

"Ethan, let me give you a little advice from a pro" bragged Benny, when he arrived still wearing the sunglasses over his pupil-less black eyes. "Smells like _Tropical Safari_ brand-cologne. Chicks don't go for the cocoanut Hawaiian stuff. I don't think Sarah's going to be too impressed."

* * *

Sarah wasn't that impressed, but she wasn't that angry either.

"Whoa there Ethan" she joked. "You've gone a little too heavy on the men's cologne. It's lucky we're not going anywhere tonight."

"Just trying it out" Ethan lied, nervously. "Do . . . do you like it?"

"It's okay" said Sarah. "Just a little too Hawaiian."

"Maybe someday we'll go there?" joked Ethan, trying to be romantic.

Sarah pictured it in her mind's eye, luau's and tropical nights and beaches, and kissed Ethan on the cheek. But she wondered . . . .

"What would you want to see in Hawaii?" she asked.

"The volcanoes" said Ethan, without thought. "Most active volcano in the world. Besides, we can go up to the observatories on Mauna Kea. And" added Ethan, a little embarrassed now it struck his mind," beaches and luaus and . . . that stuff."

Sarah thought it wasn't the most romantic answer in the world, but she could see in Ethan's eyes that he was sincere about it. She wondered if she was the only one who could see those cursed sparks of yellow that contaminated his deep eyes these days.

* * *

With Sarah's arrival, Ethan's parents' left. As the Morgans were going to some sort of "disco-revival" event, Ethan congratulated himself on his good luck that they wouldn't be home until well past midnight.

"At least something's going our way" he said to Benny.

"Dude" bragged Benny, forgetting his current zombie-state and taking off his sunglasses, "everything goes our way.

"Get those back on" ordered Ethan, as he flinched at the sight of the gaping eyeballs. "Before Jane sees you. I don't want to explain counterfeit zombies and werewolves to her."

Benny put his sunglasses back on, but complained about Ethan being uptight. He was interrupted when the pizza was delivered.

* * *

Rory arrived at the same time, a little disappointed as since he was cured of being a vampire he liked to walk in houses unasked. Now, he had to go in with the pizza deliveryman.

"What's with the cologne?" Rory asked Ethan, as Ethan locked the door. "That stuff smells like the shampoo I use on Krypto."

"Don't tell anyone!" said Ethan desperately, looking around but happily everyone else had gone to eat the pizza.

Rory knitted his brows thinking. He made the connection between Krypto's flea shampoo and Ethan's "cologne".

"You have fleas?" he said animatedly, looking suspiciously at Ethan's hair. "That sucks! But . . . you know, the shampoo works really well. Two treatments and they don't come back for thirty days."

"You have any of your garlic cloves, buddy?" asked Ethan.

"Yeah, always" said Rory, taking a plastic sandwich bag from a jacket pocket. "Why?"

"I'm tired of smelling like Hawaii" Ethan said dryly.

* * *

Ethan set up his laptop for Jane, after a short argument over the the _laptop's_ safety. Ethan had a new 17.3 inch model and was too protective of it for Jane's taste."

"I don't see why you're having me watch the movie on your precious new computer anyway" said Jane.

"Because we're having a seance and we don't want you possessed or hurt in any way" Ethan said impatiently.

"Sarah too?" said Jane, who stared at Ethan. "After last time? I thought you were done with that?"

"Sarah's in on it. It's not for fun . . . a little supernatural-destroying business" Ethan now admitted, somewhat reluctantly. "We're searching out our old vice principal."

"Vice Principal Stern?" said Jane. "The one who blew up Vampire HQ?"

"Who told you it was him?" asked Ethan. "And where do you get calling the place Vampire HQ."

"The first month when you guys couldn't stop talking about it" Jane concluded. "And Rory's the one who first called the building Vampire HQ."

"I guess that's the best name for it" said Ethan, evenly, putting his hand on her shoulder. "But just stay here. We'll make sure you're protected."

* * *

Outside Jane's closed door, Benny, Ethan and Rory used water guns to lightly trace the door frame with holy-water.

"Can't an evil spirit just go around the other way guys" asked Sarah naturally, as she rejoined the trio.

"No" said Benny. "If you're _faithfully relying on something holy for protection from evil_ , there's no such thing as a loophole or _going around_."

"I don't get why if you're under a counterfeit werewolf and zombie curse, you don't get singed or burned from holy water" said Rory, confusedly. "Is it because you're counterfeit?"

" _Even a man who's pure at heart and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the Autumn moon shines bright_ " said Ethan. "It's even in _The Wolfman_. Only vampires become literally unholy."

" _Even a man who's pure at heart and says his prayers a night may become a vampire when he goes to the wrong party and gets bitten in the neck by Eric_ a" Rory countered truculently.

"Change it to _even a boy who's Rory Keener_ " Benny observed. " _Vamps usually only get volunteers to join the legions of the un-dead._ Sarah's the other exception. Innocent victims of vamps are usually just killed."

"We're finished with vampires" said Sarah impatiently. "Let's just try to get a spirit to tell us about Vice Principal Stern's fate. Hopefully before I have to explain to Ethan's parents why I'm playing with a _Spirit Speaker_ instead of watching Jane. If you remember, you're not watching Jane is why Ethan needed a babysitter in the first place."

"Jane!" said Ethan discordantly. "Jane needed the babysitter!"

* * *

As Rory and Benny went downstairs, Sarah stopped Ethan.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"I saw the bottle of flea shampoo in the bathroom" she said quietly. "You should've hid it."

Ethan turned beet red.

"If you can get over my being literally hungry for your blood" said Sarah. "I can get over your case of fleas. But . . . they are gone?"

"They're gone" said Ethan truthfully. "Two treatments is all it takes."

"Just warn me next time" Sarah joked. "When I was four, my nursery school had an outbreak of lice. I barely escaped. I don't want to risk fleas!"

Ethan looked at Sarah, appreciating her kind words in spite of his embarrassment. He would have sooner stayed upstairs, at that moment hanging out there . . . but his whole future depended on this desperate scheme.

The two went downstairs.

* * *

The _Spirit Speaker_ was centred on a coffee table in the living room, the four teens sitting around. This time, there was little blundering around. Even by Rory. The four players each had a dish cloth tied about their head. All four had a finger tapped on their side of the rectangular board. _Everyone_ looked cautiously at the circle of glass in the middle, the conduit of communication to whichever spirit would be summoned.

In short, Team Sabre looked at the board, and treated it, as if it were as dangerous as a keg of dynamite. In truth, it was, although the danger here wasn't of this earth.

"We know the rules" said Ethan firmly. "No one plays alone . . . _Rory._ We don't give out general invitations to anyone out there . . . _Rory_. We don't take our fingers off the board until the spirit is dismissed."

" _If you do get a demon_ " Sarah added pointedly. " _You don't run away from the board and let it possess me._ "

"That too" Ethan observed.

"It works like a traffic light" said Rory somewhat irritably, felling rather annoyed at being singled out for past mistakes. "Red light means no. Green light means yes. Yellow light means spirit is saying something else."

"And it won't possess you, Sarah" mentioned Benny casually. "It'll possess Ethan. He's the werewolf. Counterfeit, but good enough for the demon."

"What about you?" Ethan countered, not liking the statement.

"If this were a video game" Benny explained, "I'd have a life-force like 1. Un-dead with no circulation and no powers. Sarah and Rory would be 100 each. Human will all that implies. Well, maybe Sarah would be 150 being tougher and knowing karate. Being a green belt. Since werewolves are deadly by nature, buddy, you'd be a 250 easy because . . ."

Benny stopped short without explaining further. There was a short silence.

Ethan recalled what the demon-possessed Sarah was like. What could a demon do to a teen like him, doomed to turn into a werewolf if he wasn't cured in nine-days time?

"Right now it's our only lead" said Ethan.

"I'll do the honours" said Benny. Benny hesitated as he thought carefully for a moment. "A . . . _friendly_ . . . spirit out there, who won't hurt us, who can and will tell us what happened to Vice Principal Stern, can they come _peacefully_ over and talk with us? A _friendly_ spirit? _Please?_ "

For a minute, nothing happened.

"Last time" Benny reflected , "we had a seer, spellmaster and vampire. Maybe we're just not enough of beacon?"

"A lot of people must have seances where nothing happens" Rory said thoughtfully. "I mean you can't expect ghosts to come every time you want. They've got to have _better_ things to do"

" _Sarah's enough of an attraction for anyone_ " Ethan thought privately, but considered it much too lame to say it aloud.

"Maybe if _someone else_ tried" suggested Benny. "The whole zombie thing . . . ."

Benny was interrupted as a window opened by itself and an icy draft blew across the room. The window slammed shut.

"Someone's here" said Rory, excitedly.

"Or something" observed Ethan, far more warily.

The glass glowed green.

" _I can tell you all you want to know about Stern_ " wrote the spirit.

"Are you friendly?" asked Ethan.

The glass glowed yellow.

" _I'll tell you what you want to know about Stern . . . were-whelp._ "

"Were-whelp?" said Ethan, surprised.

"What's a whelp?" asked Rory.

"A whelp's a dog or a young man" said Sarah explained, adding; "I used to be in Erica's historical-fiction club. You get words like that in literature."

"This spirit doesn't sound friendly" said Ethan.

"You're just angry it's making puns at your expense" said Benny.

The glass glowed green in agreement.

"Of course it would say that!" Ethan objected.

"Are you a demon?" asked Rory.

" _No_ " read the board, as its centre glowed red.

"Okay, if it's not a demon we can get down to asking" said Benny. "Is Stern dead?"

The glass quickly glowed yellow.

 _"If I'll talk, I'll talk to you in person. I won't wait here lighting up a board being questioned by a rotting corpse."_

"If you weren't dead, you'd be on Benny's list" Benny retorted.

"That's it" said Sarah. "Let's get dismiss this thing."

"Wait" said Benny. "Before we send it away . . . _how exactly would we talk to it in person?_ "

Another yellow light.

 _"If you summon me in person, I'll appear before you above the board and be able to answer your questions. You can still hold me so long as your fingers are on the board."_

"When the spirit speaks through the board, it's like he's tied up by _Wonder Woman's_ lasso of truth" Benny explained.

"Let me guess" said Sarah. "That means it can't lie."

The glass turned yellow.

" _Ask the zombie if he's ready to eat brains for the rest of his life_ " the spirit quipped. " _Better yet, is the were-whelp ready for his curse to be complete. Nine days and counting down."_

"This spirit's a real jerk" Rory complained. "Let's get a friendlier one."

 _"You're an idiot and always were an idiot. How long do you thing it'll take you to find someone willing to spill on Stern?"_

Ethan looked at Sarah, looked at Benny and even at Rory. The answer to their questions were in their grasp. Ethan was desperate, but cautious.

Benny was less desperate, but also less cautious.

Rory wasn't personally desperate, but eager to help his friends trash their respective curses.

Sarah was the only one who parsed the insult aimed at Rory. " _Always were an idiot._ " Was it just some knowledge from beyond the grave . . . or someone who had known Rory at some period of time.

"So, a supernatural pact is binding?" Ethan asked Benny, remembering the fate of Coach Ed.

"In all realms" said Benny, again.

"You swear to go back from where you came and not harm us?" said Ethan.

"Whence you came sounds better" said Rory.

"Where you came" repeated Ethan.

There was a momentary pause. The glass in the middle of the board turned green.

" _YES_ " it said.

"Okay" said Benny. "You can appear . . . in person."

The room turned icy cold at once. Ethan, Sarah and Rory could see their breath in the frigid air. A distant sound, like a whistle a far way off sounded . . . but its origin seemed deep within the _Spirit Speaker_ itself. Suddenly the glass in the middle shattered, and out of the board ignited a blue-hot flame that reached several feet in the air. It disappeared as rapidly as it came, replaced by a cloud of inky black smoke. The smoke swirled about itself, compacted, and finally resolved into a human form.


	11. Can't or Won't

**Can't or Won't**

The smoke didn't solidify directly above the board. And in a way, it was just as well. It would have been crowded and exceptionally awkward to have the spirit right there. Instead the smoke trailed to a position a few feet away, where arose, like a genie out of the lamp, a man out of the dark smoke.

It was easily the oldest man the four had ever seen. The features of his face were sunken into a mass of wrinkles, and his pupils were occluded by a thick film. The only hair on his head was not only wispy white but only found about his ears. The jaw was toothless and receded in the deep folds of the skin.

In spite of that, the man looked pleased to be standing there, and stretched his fingers and hands, little more than crumpled lumps of skin misshapen by wrinkles forming veritable chasms into the flesh.

Sarah was the only one who noticed, but the old man was dressed in a black jacket and jeans too large for his shrunken figure; it was far from what she expected from a man that age. She looked at him closely. She knew him . . . but couldn't place him.

As for Ethan, after a brief glimpse, he let out a growl before he could stop himself. Benny looked confusedly for a moment, but his pupil-less eyes figuratively popped behind his dark glasses. It took a bit longer for Rory to catch on; but it was astonishing to see how the colour drained from his face when he did.

Sarah thought that if this old spirit had arrived to tell them something, she may as well be friendly in spite of its obnoxiousness. She gave an encouraging smile.

The spirit looking through its filmy eyes, recognized Sarah. It gave, with its toothless gums, a self-satisfied smirk.

"It's you!" said Sarah shocked, dropping her forced grin.

The ghost looked about at itself and frowned as much as it could. It closed its eyes and burst into another burst of black smoke.

When the smoke subsided, the spirit patted down its slightly transparent arms and coat, letting off small bits of vapour. The spirit was now a young man, but dressed as in the style of centuries ago. His black hair was in a tight ponytail under a three-corned hat. He wore a long coat, short pants and long boots and socks. At his side, he carried a type of large leather pouch and a wooden stake in a loop in his belt.

"There's a rule" said the ghost, coldly, as he looked about himself distastefully. "I can only appear as I was when I was human. So it's either as a two-hundred and seventy-five year old man, or _this_. Like this I can talk above a whisper."

There was no mistaking the ghost's identity now. Jesse Black ne Reverend Horace Black, and older than even his nineteenth century cult-leading self.

"We asked for, you know, a friendly ghost!" Benny protested.

"Whom did you expect? _Casper_ to come and make a new friend?" Jesse retorted sardonically.

"That's the lamest joke ever" Benny grumbled.

"I didn't need that board to find you out" Jesse said, with a sneer. "You never were the sharpest spellmaster, were you? If you manage to remove the vampire's curse from someone's soul, the soul's again exposed to the light. You wouldn't believe how much light they reflect, Sarah's especially, even the idiot's soul, when a curse like that's removed. Beacons you were talking about? Ha. Those two could pass for lighthouses."

Sarah smiled in spite of herself.

"We were allied with Jesse against Stern when the lucifractor exploded" said Ethan, who had by now fought down his urge to growl. He had, in fact, been looking curiously, at the stake. "I mean, I suppose we should . . . ."

"Cut the crap, Ethan" Jesse interrupted, who had followed Ethan's eyes. "The last thing I need is a loser's sympathy. And a were-whelp at that.

You know what I was planning when Stern so stupidly destroyed the lucifractor? Planning to leave you Ethan, and you Benny, buried in the rubble of _our_ building. I would have comforted you Sarah, and had you . . . _body and soul_ . . . until I was tired of you."

Ethan again growled, while Jesse crossed his arms and looked amused.

"Six months dead, and you're still full of yourself, Jesse" Sarah retorted.

Benny had suppressed a snicker at the line "body and soul", but otherwise stared at Jesse with a look of pure hatred.

As for Rory, he hadn't said a thing yet and his face was now more nauseous than afraid.

"But you know how my plan worked" Jesse continued casually. "I underestimated the lucifractor's power, the dark energy drain, and how much trouble I was in for being responsible for leaving at least two _good_ vampires running around. One the _Dusk_ -loving girl with quite a brain and even more unusually for _her_ type . . . a great body. Another for an accident that I had left running around when I should have killed him."

"A-accident?" said Rory.

It was the first time Rory had spoken _directly_ to Jesse since the night of vampire party, or heard from him since the _deadly_ Dusk premier.

"You think I meant to have a _loser_ like you _turned_?" said Jesse, who looked at Rory and a gave an odd, hollow, echoing, laugh. "You were picked for Sarah's first meal. The most pathetic newb we could find. Girls like the small morsels . . . like you were back then. You do know that I only turn adults and teens that can pass as adults? So when I replaced Sarah with Erica, I had Gord give you to Erica on a silver platter. Only she didn't take enough of your blood to kill you, she idiotically infected you and left you just enough blood to get turned."

"Rory fainted right over when he was bitten" Benny remembered. "Ethan went into those super-fast cramps."

"Rory had about half his blood drained from him" Jesse shrugged. "But with _your_ distraction, by the time I got back to Rory he had turned into a fledgeling. Go figure. And it's a bad look to go killing another vampire in front of your flock, er, followers. Even with a fledgeling like Rory. So a few words with the idiot, and I had him and his soul completely blacked out."

"Temporarily" Rory blurted. "Dude, temporarily!"

"I didn't know you'd turn traitor" said Jesse, with a angry glance at Rory. "But you didn't have the right attitude, and I should have known that you'd go on talking to your friends. But I had bet that they would have killed you for me. That's the traditional idea. Put you out of your misery. Try to save your soul. I didn't realize you and _especially Sarah_ would go about fighting evil with your curse until the curse itself had to be blotted out somehow. And _me_ punished for it."

Ethan clapped Rory on the shoulder, and smiled at Sarah.

Benny was a little more talkative. How could he help being so? Even dead Jesse was amused at all the evil he had brought down upon them.

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy" said Benny, with a forceful laugh at Jesse's expense.

Suddenly, Jesse's arrogance failed him and he looked as worn or as miserable as the four teens could ever imagine. Or hope. Jesse's ghostly eyes went out of focus and glanced off far into the distance.

"Vampires aren't exactly approved of" said Jesse tiredly. "It turns out that murder on a large scale doesn't make for a particularly good afterlife. Trying to create your own bloodsucker's religion even less so. And corrupting youths doesn't help much either. The only thing to look forward to, is sooner or later, every vampire I created and had been killed will be in the same place as me."

"That vampire limbo you told me about?" asked Sarah.

"Vampires don't stay there forever" said Jesse. "They'll soon be with Anastasia and me."

"Where?" asked Ethan.

"I don't have to spell it out" Jesse replied in a monotone. "And, really, I can't tell you anything about it."

"Can't or won't?" asked Sarah.

"Can't" said Jesse. "Even if I had been sent in the other direction, it's not for the living to know. But then, you wouldn't really have been able to summon me."

Sarah too, now eyed the stake in Jesse's scabbard. Jesse met her glance, and that particular memory being good for his ego, he recovered himself with a faint smile.

"You want to hear about the stake?" said Jesse.

"You were bitten by a vampire when trying to kill it?" asked Ethan.

Jesse shook his head.

"You can ease your mind on that" Jesse said cooly, lifting out the ghostly stake and toying with it. "I was never a vampire-hunting geek. You want my life story, I'll give it to you. In life . . . in human life . . . like Benny I inherited spell-master powers. From my father in my case. He was a prominent physician and also a spell-master. As the cliche went, _Ethan_ , seers are gifted, spell-masters are bequeathed. I also give credit to dear old dad, wherever he is, for my brains. My mother was a heiress, a beauty, but completely brainless. I give her credit for my looks, but that's about all she gave me."

"Even alive you were a jerk" Benny observed.

"So _were_ you" Jesse replied, as his dead eyes stared behind Benny's glasses "just not as smart or able as me. Well, being a spell-master wasn't all it is now. When I was alive we were less than fifty years since the last witch hanging . . . ."

"Spell masters aren't witches" Benny interrupted.

"Try explaining that to an angry mob" said Jesse, and with a look of fatigue. "Try explaining anything to an angry mob. But at twenty-one I knew enough that I wasn't going to waste my time sending lost spirits on their way, removing curses, or destroying the rare monster. And I especially wasn't going to do the whole getting-old thing. It left me a few choices. Go as a witch, which is not something I'm into."

"Why not?" asked Sarah. "It's not as if you have anything against stealing people's souls."

"I was my own man, not an agent" said Jesse cryptically. "The solution was to be a vampire. I couldn't really care less about my reflection, and cameras weren't invented yet. It was far more protection against an angry mob . . . you notice I was never caught until near the end."

"Are we awesome or what" said Rory, a bit too timidly to be truly awesome.

Jesse again turned to him.

"Sarah I can believe doing me in" he said. "Many men have been outdone by their mistresses . . . stop that growling, whelp, she never _actually_ made mistress . . . but an excitable adolescent nerd spilling my schemes to his friends . . . ."

Jesse shrugged, having cowered Rory once more.

"For the rest of his life, he'll be confused and regretful whenever he thinks back" Jesse said reflectively, mostly addressing Sarah as he was most disposed to think of her as an equal. "That is, thinks back about what happened at the party, why he joined me and why he went to the _Westdale_. That's his punishment for his stupidity. It's something, at least. But Sarah, you get off free. Admiring an idiot bit of vampire fiction isn't the same as wanting to actually be a _real_ vampire."

"Punishment?" asked Sarah.

"What do you mean by his punishment?" asked Ethan.

"The punishment fits the crime" said Jesse. "That's the crime, that's his punishment. For being confused enough to go along with me . . . but being mostly . . . what's it called . . . yes, a victim of circumstance."

"Can you . . . say more?" asked Sarah.

"No" said Jesse.

"Can't or won't?" asked Benny.

Jesse hesitated.

"Can't" said Jesse. "Just can't."

Jesse smirk failed and he gave a weary sigh.

"Unlike Sarah or Rory, _I sought and found death_ Ethan. I didn't go looking for a vampire to be killed, _but to be turned_. I found her. One I could convince into having a new _paramour_."

"Anastasia?" asked Sarah.

Jesse cheered himself up with a bit of hollow laughter.

"No, one Katriana" said Jesse, as he looked over the stake. "I used all my charm, and as she bit me I staked her."

"Why?" asked Ethan.

"I only had a second before the convulsions started" Jesse explained.

"No, why did you stake her?" Ethan asked.

"Do you think I wanted to be her flunkey?" Jesse laughed. "If you're bitten by a vampire you're . . . well, let's just say you're psychologically doomed to admire that vampire. We call it being sired . . . ."

Sarah rolled her eyes, having heard the phrase and not liking it. And it really wasn't worth arguing about . . . .

"You mean like being _fathered_?" interrupted Rory, who strongly objected to this idea. "You mean Erica was my Vampire Dad? _I have a real Dad_. And you know, Erica being _my Dad_ is gross. I had a crush on Erica and . . . .

"Shut up, dude" said Benny impatiently. "Drop it! We all get it."

"Look at Sarah" Jesse continued, with another deadly glance at Rory. "She had an opportunity to kill me once . . . but she couldn't. Even with her being blameless in having been turned. And you know how _this idiot_ couldn't resist Erica. So I wasn't going to stand at Katriana's side, or walk three steps behind her. There was another reason. See the tip of this stake?"

"It's green" said Ethan.

"It was treated with a potion" said Jesse. "I used it to absorb Katriana's powers when I staked her. How else do you think I was able to glamour from the very start? Of course I lost my natural magic powers, but it was a good trade. And you know I never lost the ability to _work_ magic. I just needed _tools_."

Jesse so looked unbearably proud of himself, the four couldn't stand it.

"Which is why you are where you are now" said Sarah icily.

Jesse flinched, and deflated.

"What about Stern?" said Ethan. "That's why we called you."

"Or somebody we were hoping _wasn't you_ " Benny quipped.

"It's a weird thing about the guy" Jesse observed. "Killing vampires isn't exactly considered a sin. Terrorizing _you four_ is. So is using black magic to take over Whitechapel."

"So is it Stern?" asked Sarah.

"No, he's dead and I don't know where _he_ went" said Jesse.

"He tried to kill us" Benny objected.

"After Stern magically had you recite everything on your mind, he didn't" said Jesse, irritably. "Stern just put you out of the way. _He didn't choose to kill you_. That's probably what made the difference. Stern didn't kill Sarah. By luck or by design, Stern didn't even kill Rory."

"He was power-hungry" said Benny.

"Power-hungry, but partly in a good cause. Too extreme in a good cause" spat Jesse. "But Stern didn't murder any innocent people and that probably made all the difference. He'll probably be ironed out before he's let in . . . I'm not allowed to go on any more."

"Can't or won't?" asked Benny, again repeating _that_ question.

"Both."

"So it's not him?" asked Rory.

"He's dead and gone" said Jesse irritably. "It's not him. But . . . ."

Jesse hesitated.

"Can you tell us anything more?" asked Ethan.

"No" said Jesse.

"Can't or won't?" asked Sarah.

"Can't."

"That's bogus" Rory said. "All this time and he just now blurted out that Stern wasn't in on it. And he can't give us anything more."

"Wait!" volunteered the ghost of Jesse hurriedly. "If I were you four . . . well, I'd look for your invisible . . . person."

"Why?" asked Benny.

"Because they're going have an unpleasant . . . surprise soon" Jesse said.

"What surprise?" asked Ethan.

"That's all I can say" said Jesse.

"Can't or won't?" asked Sarah.

"Both!"

Ethan observed Jesse carefully. Jesse seemed worried now.

"You want to be here as long as you can" Ethan observed. "You don't want to go back. That's why you've been going on about how you became a vampire. You wouldn't have so easily volunteered the story if you weren't stalling for time."

Jesse narrowed his eyes, and with a supreme effort put up again his calm, smirking front.

"I wanted to see Benny as a zombie" said Jesse, looking right through Benny's sunglasses. "As a fellow ex-spell-master, Benny . . . and I'm being very generous in comparing you to me . . . you can say I have an interest. Benny's curse suffers from being forged, but I guess that's the only way to make him really suffer through it."

Benny wasn't going to let that pass.

"I'm perfectly cool with being a zombie" Benny lied.

"Yes, you really enjoy the eating brain sausage" sneered Jesse. "And those non-eyes of yours. But I _really_ wanted to get a good look at you, _Ethan_ " he continued in his most insolent tone. "You know why you were cursed on the Third of November? That was the new moon, and it's the best time to place the curse."

"Wouldn't the full moon be the best time?" asked Sarah, "I mean, reasonably."

"The curse builds as the moon waxes" Jesse said smugly. "If it's a curse you're doing, curse on the new moon. It's not even the first quarter. You'll have a whelp for a boyfriend, until you dump him. You really should have stayed with me."

"Thanks, but you'll be freezing before that happens" Sarah replied. "Ethan befriended me when you turned me into a bloodsucker, and stayed friends with me the whole time. What kind of person would I be to turn on him now?"

"Like Jesse" said Rory simply.

Ethan put his arm around Sarah, not that easy to do when you're seated on two sides of a half-destroyed game-board. But Jesse wasn't going to leave them at that. After expressing a look of annoyance, again he forced a smirk into his face.

"I understand perfectly" Jesse said in a tone Ethan or Sarah would never forget. "It's true love. I guess Ethan wants to see you his wife. _And the mother of his pups._ "

"If you weren't dead . . . you'd be dead" said Benny, rolling up the sleeve on his free arm.

"You couldn't slug me even if we were both human" Jesse said cooly.

Rory for his part, just looked stunned at the remark.

Sarah was as angry as she ever had been before; it was plain in her face. She was going to say something, but had restrained herself from actually doing anything. A cursed spirit wasn't someone you could exactly attack.

Ethan didn't restrain himself, nor could he. With a brutal growl Ethan left the board behind and went for Jesse's throat. It wasn't much good as Ethan went right through Jesse and landed in a heap against the wall.

" _Ah_ , the were-whelp wants to bite me" laughed Jesse.

"Ethan, you can't leave the board" said Rory, _leaving the board_ to restrain Ethan who was still growling and about to make another lunge despite being on his hands and knees.

Rory tackled Ethan, while Jesse laughed all the more.

Benny tried saying a spell he had learned, " _Spiritus mitto vos_ " and also made a hand gesture . . . which unfortunately involved _both hands_.

Absolutely nothing happened. Benny, in a panic, tried to put his finger again on the _Spirit Speaker_ , but received a shock.

Thrown back, Benny made a decidedly non-magical hand gesture at Jesse.

"Hurts to know you can never work magic again, doesn't it?" Jesse jeered. "The un-dead have no inherent magical powers. Now it's just me and Sarah."

"I'm not letting go" Sarah replied.

Too late Ethan recovered, and he also tried to go back to the board. But he was thrown off by a bad shock and whimpered in pain.

"Now what will I do now?" gloated Jesse.

"You promised to go back from where you came" said Sarah, protruding calm but privately nervous about the turn of events. "Now go! You brought your fate on yourself . . . even now I can't help but feel a little sorry, _even for you_ . . . ."

Again, and for the last time, Jesse's smug look faded into a pained, tired expression. And without warning, he dissolved into a thick black smoke and was pulled into the ruins of the Spirit Speaker.

The _Spirit Speaker_ itself, or what was left of it, burst into red flames and soon crumpled into dust. The flames would have burnt the coffee table to, but Ethan put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.

* * *

 _If_ it wasn't Stern, if it wasn't Stephanie, then who? And what next?

"How do you find an invisible person?" thought Ethan as he went to bed.

Ethan had a difficult time falling asleep. He couldn't and wouldn't forget how much like a wolf he had acted at the end. Ethan didn't like to humiliate himself in front of Sarah, even acting like a wolf in front of Benny and Rory was embarrassing enough.

Finally, Ethan also considered that, in the end, he given one last small victory to Jesse. But for Jesse's aid in the lucifractor matter, Ethan reflected, Jesse might as well take that back with him to the place from "where he came."

"Whence just sounds lame" Ethan muttered, and he finally dozed off.


	12. At the Mall

**At the Mall**

Ethan had permission to drive his mom's Equinox the next day, so it seemed a good start after a lot of embarrassment the night before. As Benny lived next door, he met Ethan with a high-five outside the Morgan's garage. It was a sunny day, so Benny didn't look too suspicious in the dark glasses. But Benny wasn't only feeling cheerful about his date with Della.

"Dude, Jesse was actually telling the truth about the invisible person being in _big_ trouble" Benny said as he went into the passenger-side door. " _I think_."

"As you said, _Spirit Speaker_ was like Wonder Woman's golden lasso" Ethan observed, as he went into the driver's seat and began to adjust the mirrors. "But what's happening with the invisible person?"

"One of the spells that makes you invisible only works temporarily" Benny said.

"I didn't think they'd want to be invisible forever" Ethan retorted. "Not even Rory would fall for an offer like that.

"No dude, the _counter-spell only_ works temporarily" Benny said. "Invisible dude will have taken something to reappear, but the spell would wear off and they'd be invisible again.

Ethan looked at Benny.

"They'll never be visible again?"

"Even worse" said Benny. "They _can_ become visible again. But they have to take _four_ treatments over four weeks if they're going to be visible again permanently. _If they don't . . . well in a few weeks their body eventually becomes both invisible and immaterial_. Their body dissolves and their soul moves on."

Ethan whistled in surprise.

"Yeah. And it take _grandma-level_ magic to work those four treatments to reverse it. I couldn't . . . even with my magic powers."

"So this person needs help and fast.

"We're talking about a seriously evil villain" said Benny. "Galactic Empire, Klingon, Cylon, SMERSH-grade evil."

Ethan considered.

"Our invisible person was duped" said Ethan. "Whoever made the curse must've wanted to tie up loose ends. It's the classic scheme where the villain kills off his assistant so they won't talk."

"Like in _Saga of a Star World_ " said Benny, in an rapid-fire tone. "The Imperious Leader of the Cylons was going to have Count Baltar killed after that traitor sold out the twelve colonies. But because Apollo and Starbuck managed to have the Imperious Leader blown up along with the bug-people of Caroline, the next Imperious Leader just decided to give Baltar a Base Star with Lucifer as his aid."

To most people, Benny's muddled survey of the first few episodes of _Battlestar Galactica_ would make no sense whatsoever. But Ethan understood perfectly.

"You're right, Cylon-grade betrayal. Baltar grade-betrayal" Ethan added, correcting himself. "But why the heck . . . _why the frack_ did they did want to put a curse on us? They could have been a paid mercenary, or they could have been brainwashed? Or convinced it was only a joke?"

"Or they had a serious grudge against us?" Benny suggested. "But everyone we know in the serious-grudge category is dead or, with Stephanie, already investigated."

"We could work with them" said Ethan, continuing. "If they're not evil themselves but a just a pawn in this scheme."

"I'm in the mood to eat invisible brains" said Benny wryly in response.

* * *

Benny was also in the mood to go to Della's house first. Ethan sat bored at the driver's seat, slightly envious at how Benny was fearlessly able to kiss Della on her doorstep while he, Ethan, usually had to share some awkward conversation with Sarah's parents.

"Well, it's getting better" said Ethan to himself, before adding fairly. "They like me now. I guess with Sarah running away two summers ago, they just want to be careful. But I guess we all know whose fault that was. Being the father of _puppies_? Sarah the _mother_? I wish I had bitten . . . ."

Ethan realized he was unconsciously bearing his teeth. He closed his mouth and sighed.

Ethan delayed at Sarah's door to tell her the news. They agreed to find a way to lose Benny and Della temporarily while they talked it over in depth.

Benny, being left in the back of the Equinox with his arm around Della, wasn't exactly upset at the wait. But he did wish that Ethan's mother had tinted the windows.

"That reminds me. What happened to the flowers?" Della asked.

"What flowers?" said Benny.

"I always thought they were very romantic" Della said. "The first few dates we had you brought me flowers."

"The magic flowers?" asked Benny, without thinking.

"Magic . . . flowers?" asked Della.

"Um . . . they're from a florist called _Magic Florists_ " Benny lied. "They're closed. A pipe broke and they have water damage."

"Were you there?" asked Della. "That would explain why you have that smell about you."

"What smell?" asked Benny, sniffing suspiciously.

"It's faint. But it's sort of like mould" Della replied.

"But I just ate a bowl of chicken head soup this morning" Benny objected.

Della laughed, thinking it was a joke. Benny didn't disillusion her.

* * *

 _King Plaza_ was the name of the only shopping mall in Whitechapel. It was on the far side of downtown, on the road leading to Highway 401. It had been around a long time, built sometime _way back_ in the 1970's. It was a mostly one-storey shopping centre, but mostly was the key word here. As it had been built on a hill there was a basement level was connected to the main mall by a flight of stairs. A few stores hugged the this narrow corridor to the exit to the back parking lot.

As for the main plaza itself; the place had once been anchored by a movie theatre, a _Sears_ store and a _Zellers_ , but they had closed years back. Presently, it had a _Walmart_ , a _Best Buy_ , four-screen _Cineplex Odeon_ theatre and a _Sobey's_ grocery store.

The Cineplex also had an entrance to the back parking lot, and that was where Ethan parked. Having already seen the more popular movies that month, _Ender's Game_ and _Thor_ (the latter with Rory), Ethan wanted to try something different. So they went with _Machete Kills_. Benny had bought the tickets online to the R-rated movie, and it was child's play to get in the right theatre from there.

Frankly, the movie had been unpopular with general audiences from the start and the manager didn't care who went to see it. It was the kind of movie a teenage geek loved, but everybody else considered unbearably stupid. Sci-fi, gore, and several near-naked women.

But at the moment, Ethan most enjoyed the fact that it had as much blood and gore as you could get.

It was only with a sinking feeling that Ethan realized that in movies like this, he usually flinched at he sight of unusual gore. Now, he was, well . . . hungry.

Benny had been eating a large popcorn through the upcoming attractions, but suddenly turned a surprising and literal shade of green, and left hurriedly. He returned ten minutes later, muttering about counterfeit curses ruining his appetite. That is until Della asked what exactly he was talking about.

Sarah didn't like the movie or its inane plot. In fact, even now, she thought Dusk was better by comparison. Sarah reflected that the only good thing about the picture was that the movie was so crazy, she didn't know what would happen next.

Later in the movie, Della grabbed onto Benny, and screamed at the right moments. While this cheered up Benny, this annoyed Ethan as he was seated between Della and Sarah and the screams went right into his ear.

Ethan thought he might be coming-into his werewolf hearing. That was depressing.

But at this moment, Sarah smiled at Ethan. The seats in the theatre were the old fashioned kind, the kind that only went to shoulder level and no more. So Ethan was able to put his arm around her for the rest of the movie. He left the movie feeling very happy and very smooth.

* * *

When Ethan left the theatres, he wondered if he could find a way to lose Benny and Della, and see about filling Sarah in on the invisible person.

"How about we get some food?" Ethan said. "We can go to the food court. There's an _A & W_ there. I feel like a Grandpa Burger."

"That's different" said Sarah. "I thought we'd go for pizza again."

'I'll need a loan, buddy. I've been draining months of allowances" Benny said in a low tone, out of earshot of Della who was looking at a purse in front of a woman's store. "There's been several cool movies. Besides, who would have thought that the brain-eating thing wouldn't let me eat my normal amount of popcorn?"

"I need to go over the invisible person with Sarah" Ethan replied.

"What about the invisible person?" asked Sarah.

Ethan walked off a short distance, while Benny followed Della into the woman's store. And looked frustrated he'd have to be standing around while Della looked at purses.

"You know, if you're looking for purses my dad just bought a new briefcase at _Bentley's_ " Ethan volunteered helpfully, but Della apparently wasn't a fan of that store as she looked back mystified.

"Girls don't take it as a recommendation that your dad bought a briefcase there" said Sarah with a slight giggle. "But about that invisible person . . . ."

Ethan told her. Sarah listened with interest. She was torn about what to do with the invisible person if he came to them for help.

"I'm not really eager about helping someone who tried to make me a vampire again" Sarah said coldly, as she walked down the short flight of stairs with Ethan toward the basement level and the back exit. "But Erica wasn't exactly an angel and we didn't give up on her. But I think you're missing something. This invisible enemy might go after us again instead of trying to seek us for help."

"I don't think it'll happen that way" said Ethan. "When he or she turns invisible again, Mrs. Weir will be the only one in town who could save him or her. Unless they take an invisible road trip somewhere else . . . and even then they can't harm us. But I guess we'll need to stick together in the meantime. I live next door to Benny, and . . . ."

"You're not exactly helpless now" Sarah said, as Ethan gave a weak smile in response. "Or Benny. And I have my karate. I think I can fight off an invisible assassin."

"Invisible assassin!" said Ethan, with a more sincere grin. "I like that. It wouldn't make a bad movie. But I guess that'll work as a contingency, though it'll be better if you can stick to Erica or I can walk home with you . . . . uh, safety in numbers, no offence . . . .

"I'd love to walk home with you until this is over" said Sarah. "Safety in numbers."

"Whoever it is, isn't interested in Rory" Ethan concluded. "Which is cool, because Rory lives a couple blocks away and even if Rory could take Krypto everywhere . . . he's still a puppy. And I don't think I can even be around Krypto anymore. We're here. How about a old school photo?"

* * *

There was still a photo booth in this back corridor of the mall. Sarah never tired of having her picture taken, and Ethan never tired of having his picture taken with Sarah.

That's what it meant to be, in Sarah's case, one year and nine months a vampire. Or, in Ethan's case, waiting for one year and nine months to ask Sarah out on a date.

The booth was occupied, and Ethan halted in suprrise as he heard familiar laughter. And looked to see film print out of the machine featuring Erica's in a variety of _close_ poses with the tall and temporarily black-eyed Tom Towers.

Ethan was, at the moment, wary of Erica, and it showed on his face as Erica stepped fitly out of the booth and Towers awkwardly lumbered after her.

"Hi Sarah" said Tom Towers, as he put sunglasses on over his black eye. "Ethan."

To Ethan's annoyance, Towers clapped him hard on the back.

"Did you see me beat the snot out of Vanlake Thursday?" bragged Towers.

"I wasn't really there."

"You should have been. Bill even had to cancel the party" Towers went on, as he cracked his knuckles, in Ethan's opinion the guy's "signature move" as he was always doing it. "Van Lake's having emergency dental surgery to save one of his canines."

At "canines" Ethan winced, something that Erica noticed out of the corner of the eye. But she didn't deduce the true reason . . . .

"I don't think that's particularly something to be proud of" Sarah said.

"It was shaping up to be the coolest party this year" Erica put in, missing Sarah's point entirely.

"I don't pick fights" Towers said defensively. "Van Lake's been riding me for a long time. _And a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do_. You can relate, can't you Ethan?"

"I can relate" said Ethan, with a shrug. "But we were just going to the photo booth . . . ."

"Hey bro!" said Benny, as arrived walking down the stairs with Della, and newly free from the horrors of purse-shopping.

"Black eye?" questioned Towers.

"Eye infection" Benny replied. "It should be clearing up _any day now. It'll be invisible._ "

Benny gave a significant look at Ethan and Sarah, who nodded in return.

"We were just going to _Jolene's Jewellery_ " Della said, pointing to a small store nearby, with displays of inexpensive and costume jewellery.

"We'll join you" said Sarah, looking at Ethan and the photo booth with slight regret.

Ethan too looked at it in regret, thinking how cool it would for it to a picture of him kissing Sarah in real time . . . .

"Sarah, Tom, Della, and me" said Erica in a low voice near Ethan, and derailing his train of thought. "Four cool people, two geeks. Well, as long as the cool people outnumber the geeks it's okay."

Ethan gulped down an impending growl.

"Well you won't double date with Sarah and me, but we have a triple date" Ethan said coldly.

"Don't flatter yourself" said Erica.

* * *

Tom Towers had even less interest in jewellery than even Benny. And Benny was quietly yawning, thinking how much more he'd love to be looking around _The Source, EB Games, Best Buy_ , or even the electronics department at _Walmart_.

Ethan, being more patient than his pal, contented himself in looking at wrist watches.

"Look at this" said Della, looking into a large white box near the watches. "A genuine pearl necklace with a sterling silver chain. Only $29.99? What do you think?"

"My aunt wears a pearl necklace" Sarah said, shrugging.

"Good for old ladies" Benny observed quietly. "Grandma has one. In fact, both my grandma's have one."

"And you wouldn't go to a luggage store because my Dad bought a briefcase there" Ethan pointed out.

"Oh come on!" Della said. "Real pearls? What do you think?

"It depends on the size, quality and type" said Sarah, shrugging.

"They must be on the low end of the scale" said Erica, who had been gravitating to the actual expensive jewellery at the back of the store. Without, of course, any way to pay for them.

"Ethan, you know a lot" Della tried.

"Not about pearls" Ethan said defensively.

With that, Della laid the necklace in Ethan's hand. The genuine fresh water pearl and sterling silver necklace. It took Ethan by surprise.

" _Yow-lll_ " was what Ethan yelled as he threw the necklace into the air.

Benny grabbed at it, but missed. Towers caught it, weighed it in his hand, and shook them. Then he looked over at Ethan. Ethan had red marks all over his hand, where the silver chain had burnt his palm. Ethan quickly stuffed his hand in his pocket

Allergic to silver.

"How the heck did it burn you?" asked Towers. "It wasn't hot."

"Klutz" sneered a saleswoman from across the room.

She was a young woman, but severe-looking, with her hair pulled tight in a bun and a white blouse and long black skirt.

"Now I know what Anastasia would look like if she had ever grown up" muttered Benny, as the salespersons' glare fell on his side-shield glasses.

"I was shocked" Ethan explained. "There's a lot of static electricity here."

"Let me see your hand" demanded Erica, looking at Ethan suspiciously.

"Sure" Ethan said, after he looked at his hand. Ethan held up both hands. The right one had already healed.

"It was burnt a few seconds ago!" said Tom Towers, who started to look sick. "I can't believe it's happening to me again. A couple of months ago I see little blue men before the shop class falls apart . . . now this."

"Don't worry about it, Tom" said Erica casually. "Maybe he has a . . . slight silver allergy."

Ethan was conscious of Erica's appraising look. Benny and Sarah were also conscious of Ethan's being appraised.

"Funny thing" Erica continued. "That palm now looks rougher than the other . . . ."

"I'm right-handed" Ethan retorted. "I just use it more."

But fortunately, Erica's thoughts were on vampires instead of werewolves. Sarah followed Erica's gaze to the glass and mirror display cases . . . which reflected all six in the group, including a worried-looking Ethan.

Sarah caught herself before she sighed with relief.

"It was probably just a shock" Erica lamented.

Ethan was saved from further scrutiny by the saleswoman, who wasn't too pleased to have a group of teenagers throwing her merchandise around. She haughtily snatched the necklace from Tom Towers' hand, grabbed the box from Della, and put the pearls away. Then she kicked the entire group out of the store.

"You may return in a week . . . if you behave like adults instead of kindergartners" the saleswoman said haughtily.

"She is _so_ on Benny's list" Benny muttered to Ethan.

"She is _so_ on Erica's list" Erica told Sarah.

* * *

In Sarah's view, the good thing about this back corner of the mall was that it was home to local and unique stores, instead of the typical chains and franchises that dominated most of the centre.

So it was with a new restaurant near the staircase called _Indian Bungalow_. Sarah liked to try new things. Della was the type of girl who hated food courts and liked sit-down restaurants and bouquets of flowers. Erica considered herself a sophisticated gourmet, even though she wasn't guzzling blood. Tom Towers would eat anything. _Ethan was hungry_. And Benny was outvoted, and had to quietly borrow money from Ethan.

"I've had enough international food for a lifetime" Benny said under his breath. "At least until the time I _again_ have a real lifetime."

Yet Benny followed the others in the restaurant. The owner placed the teens in a large booth near the back. It was comfortable, if a little too close to the kitchen. And, fortunately, for Ethan, who knew little of Indian food, each dish had a explanation of what exactly it was.

But though the unlikely catalyst of Tom Towers, Ethan's newest disaster about to be set in motion.

* * *

For many of the menu items, diners were offered the choice of having their meal mild, medium, or even hotly seasoned with fresh ghost peppers spices. The menu noted the Chicken Vindaloo was the hottest dish of them all.

Tom Towers, western fan, considered himself an expert with hot chilli and didn't flinch at ghost peppers. Indian food couldn't possibly be tougher than cowboy fare!

Benny, in spite of being still sick to his stomach, was also up to the challenge. Benny supposed whatever objections his zombie-stomach had with popcorn, his deadened taste-buds would serve his purposes.

All in all, it was the Mexican restaurant all over again, but with hotter peppers and Indian food.

Sarah and Della wisely didn't feel like torturing themselves. They ordered a selection of appetizers and Lamb Briyana. Erica ordered some Veal Curry, and, like a connoisseur, proclaimed that she wouldn't have the hot dishes as it would disguise much of the finer spices.

"Don't be a wimp" Tom advised Ethan bluntly. "This is the perfect opportunity for you to show off your stuff."

"Dude's right" said Benny, nudging Ethan with his elbow. "Girls love a guy who can hold his ghost peppers. Remember the hot sauce we had at the Western Night you had? And, buddy, your favourite is Mediterranean pizza."

"Ethan" laughed Sarah, as she ate a samosa. "I promise not to think you're less of a guy for not going with the hot food.

"It's okay" Ethan replied. "I wouldn't pass up the chance."

"Last one to drink wins" suggested Tom.

"Root beer?" suggested Benny.

"Coke" said Tom.

The restaurant didn't have root beer, so _Coca-Cola_ it was.

Ethan ordered the vindaloo. Ethan had his doubts about girls being impressed by a man's eating skills, Sarah in particular. _Nobody's ever impressed a girl by taking part in a pizza eating contest_ . . . or at least so Ethan thought.

Sarah did seem sort of moved. Although it was more to laughter than admiration. Especially when Ethan's eyes watered and he felt he was dying of the heat. If he had been a cartoon, Ethan felt he would be running for the water with flames coming out of my mouth. As it was, Ethan went through the vindaloo like it was an endurance contest. It was a relief to finally finish and gulp down his _Coca-Cola_.

"It's nothing" Ethan told Sarah, while they looked at Tom order a third _Coca-Cola_ with amusement. "You need to be tough. You've just got to eat it. Otherwise, you're going to be gulping down pop with half a bowl to go."

Sarah and Della laughed, amazingly so did Erica. Tom would have turned red, if the vindaloo hadn't made his face red already. Even more comically, Benny's nose was running and running bad.

There's nothing like being the hero of the group, even if it's for a minor thing like out-eating a jock with a baseball scholarship and your counterfeit-zombie best friend.

Ethan felt very proud of himself and extremely conceited. It was only later that he realized his personality was being influenced by the curse, and he rarely was so recklessly vain.

Especially so when Sarah told that the yellow flecks danced about his eyes at the moment, so much so that everybody . . . even Tom, Erica and Della . . . were taken aback by the sight.

Unfortunately for Ethan, his voice had carried over to the owner.

"So, young man" he said, "You think you can handle anything on the menu?"

He was a dark middle aged man with an English accent, wearing a dark suit and a starched white apron.

"It's a talent" Ethan said, his victory making him out-do Benny in swagger.

"I don't think you're as adept as you think you are" said the restauranteur.

"I ate the chicken vindaloo" Ethan told him. "That's about the hottest thing on the menu."

"On the menu, yes" said the owner. "However, you notice I promise fresh ghost pepper sauce. How would you like to try one of my fresh whole peppers? You say you've mixed pepper _sauce_ into hot sauce. Well, how about having the full effect?"

Ethan was stuck. There was no way to save face. But then again, _it wouldn't kill him_.

"Sure" Ethan said casually.

The owner went into the back of his shop, and brought out a pepper. He handed it to Ethan. It was a funny looking thing. It was strong, even the fumes from the thing were bothering Ethan's nose. But there was nothing Ethan could do. Sarah, Erica, Della, Benny and Tom were looking at him. So was the restauranteur. So were people at other tables.

Ethan ate the pepper.

Ethan's downfall was instantaneous. First he was aware of a searing pain in my mouth. Then there was an even worse stinging as the pain increased without hint of stopping.

And then Ethan started howling in pain. Literally howling. Like a wolf howls. Or, more accurately, like a werewolf howls. Louder and deeper than that of a normal wolf. It echoed over the restaurant, out the door, and up the stairs onto the main floor of the plaza.

Everyone looked on in surprise.

For awhile, it seemed Ethan couldn't stop. But before the whole mall started to look for or at Ethan, from the Walmart store to the Sobeys, he struggle to close his mouth and bit his lip.

"Milk" Ethan finally told the owner. "H-ahroo-rry"

Ethan guzzled down more milk than he would have thought his stomach could have held. But he felt better for it.

Luckily, most people around thought it was just a teenage prank. Tom and Della among them.

"That's not funny" said Tom.

"It would be, if you knew Ethan better" said Erica mysteriously.

It was obvious Erica was pleased. It was plain to Sarah, Ethan and Benny that she had put two and two together.

"I don't know" said Erica, who now viewedt Ethan with a knowing look. "I'd love to hear you howl like that, Tom. But even from Ethan . . . . it's going to be fun."

"Today was an epic fail" Della said bitterly. "Kicked out of a jewellery store, embarrassed in front of everybody in Whitechapel. You know, the first Puffles howled like that the night before . . . ."

Della's eyes started to water.

"No way" said Benny. "I'll bet Ethan's howl is way deeper than Puffles."

"Next time, Benny" Della said, "just . . . grow up."

Again, she ran off to the washroom to cry.

Benny gave Ethan a deadly look. It made Benny all the angrier as he realized it was entirely ineffective coming from blacked out eyes hidden behind dark glasses.

* * *

Ethan was red with embarrassment. It was only after Tom and Erica had left with Della (and Benny discovered Chicken Vindaloo, like popcorn, didn't agree with counterfeit zombies), he had the courage to say anything.

"I . . . I'm sorry" Ethan muttered.

"I think it was stupid of you to eat the pepper" Sarah said. "But it's not as if it wasn't a normal thing for you to do. You have to live your life."

"Howling like that is a werewolf thing" Ethan said almost inaudibly.

"Most people don't connect eating ghost peppers with howling like a wolf" Sarah replied.

"I guess not" said Ethan, cheering up a little. "And I don't think I'll have to worry about Erica. She was more disgusted than anything last time when she found out I was the werewolf. Or at least I'm told, given I don't have a memory of _that_."

"It was mostly because she had her hands all over your back" Sarah said bluntly. "But you might as well read this sooner than later."

Sarah passed Ethan her smart phone with a frown.

" _So, Ethan's a werewolf again"_ Erica had texted. " _LOL. He'll always be Ethan, but these early changes in him are interesting. You may have a catch with him after all. You've got to tell me everything about it. Erica. BTW, what's up with Benny and those sunglasses. You think I'm stupid enough to believe his eye infection story?_

"You might as well tell her everything" said Ethan, or rather said in something between a growl and a groan. "If I can take _this_ , I can take anything she's going to say to me."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I've never seen _Ender's Game, Thor_ nor _Machete Kills_. I looked up movies that were released in the fall of 2013 and thought they were likely movies for Ethan to see. _Machete Kills_ sounds closest in kind to the type of the movie the gang sees in _Friday Night Frights_. Given the terrible reviews and wikipedia's description of the plot, I'm betting I'm never going to see _Machete Kills_.


	13. First Quarter

**First Quarter**

Ethan thought bitterly about how his Saturday went "from awesome to suck" in a couple hours. Sarah kissed him, yes, but a quick goodbye on the cheek before she went in her house and no doubt telling Erica _everything_.

"Did you have to howl so long?" said Benny as he watched Sarah leave, feeling jealous with Ethan for his luck with girls. "A short howl would have been cool and funny . . . but on and on?"

"It's not like I had a choice" Ethan protested.

"Yeah, Ethan" Benny sneered.

But by the time Ethan had pulled into the driveway, Benny concluded that Ethan couldn't help himself. It was just a werewolf-thing . . . a temporary werewolf thing. Just like Benny had put up with some of Rory's vampire goofiness until several months before.

And had he, Benny, just seriously judged Ethan to be a player!

"I'm going home for some serious video game therapy" Benny announced wryly.

"What game?" asked Ethan

" _Single-player_ video game therapy" Benny said. "I'm at the point where I've even been envying your luck with girls. Even if they're only of the _Sarah-specific-wait-two-years-before-you-ask-her-out_ kind of luck with girls. You're just lucky I don't drop you as my best friend . . . it's just that being a counterfeit zombie it's a little hard to get a new one now.

"There's always Rory" Ethan returned.

"Yeah, it's cool having your best friend live next door" Benny joked. "Rory's a five, _maybe ten-minute_ walk away"

"Rory needs to know about the invisible person" Ethan reflected. "Rory's probably not going to targeted by them . . . but he could be. The guy has the worst luck sometimes."

"Are you driving over there or walking?" asked Benny. "I could _almost_ be convinced into seeing another of Rory's driving lessons. I like seeing him try to back around that curve in his driveway . . . _and nearly floor it into the flowerbed by his parent's bedroom windows._ "

"Neither" said Ethan. "Webcam. I'm not interested in a run-in with Krypto. Last week . . . he wasn't in his best mood during _Musetronics_ rehearsal. And things were only building up Sunday."

"It's really not as cool for Rory to have an evil-sniffing dog if we're the evil he's sniffing out" Benny shrugged as he went the short distance to his door.

Although Benny said in a joking voice, the thought made him angry. He gave the side of the Weir house an angry kick.

"Who'd think a dog would ever think I was _evil_?" said Benny to himself in a groan. "I just want to . . . _stop groaning like a zombie right now_."

With a new appreciation for Ethan's own problems, Benny went inside. To mixed feelings, he found that his grandmother had prepared him "Kentucky Fried Chicken Heads" as a snack.

To better feelings, Benny received a text from Della a few hours later. She was prepared to forgive him, and blame everything on Ethan choosing to act like a little kid.

" _I'm the mature one_ " Benny typed. " _My friends Ethan and Rory are okay, but they really need to grow up. Ethan especially doesn't have my experience with girls._ "

Benny wondered if he could get his grandmother into producing some magical flowers for Della.

* * *

Unlike his friends, Rory had enjoyed a great Saturday. It involved Rory walking Krypto to the petting zoo where he used to volunteer. Meeting a couple of girls. They admired Rory for his Yellow Labrador pup Krypto.

Was there any way Krypto wasn't awesome?

The afternoon was spent with Rory fiddling with his spaceship models and action figures, listening to _Single Tear_ while Krypto sniffed about his room. Rory had already received a couple of email updates promising good things ahead. First was an email announcing the recreational pilots at the _Whitechapel Aerodrome_ were having an open house next week. Second was the fact _Canada Post_ sent a notification that the _Colonial Warrior_ costume Rory had ordered had cleared customs in Vancouver and would be arriving in time for school pictures.

Krypto barked as Rory's laptop and cell gave the email notification.

"Cool" said Rory, when he saw it. "It's Ethan. Maybe he's finally found a lead and we can take part in evildoer butt-kicking action. Or maybe . . . I bet he's changed his mind about playing a _Single Tear_ cover for _Musetronics_. "

Truthfully, Rory felt it was just awesome to be on a webcam. After being denied the chance for so long, even six _whole months_ after being cured it was just plain cool to be on camera.

Krypto jumped up to bark at the screen, as even on the computer he recognized and liked Rory's pal Ethan.

" _Whazzzzzz up_? Anything new?" Rory asked Ethan excitedly.

"Only that our invisible person's going to be exactly that" said Ethan dryly.

"Huh? Oh, invisible?"

"With no way to turn visible again" said Ethan.

Ethan explained how this dupe might become the ally they need . . . before they de-materialized altogether.

"You mean . . . ."

"I guess their molecules will just de-bond" said Ethan. "Or whatever happens when you magically de-materialize. But we don't know when and we don't know if he or she's going to want our help. Or go on the attack. So we have to watch out until we track them down. And then, one way or another, we'll help them in return for their telling us . . . _everything_."

"Gnarly" Rory observed, irritably. "Do we have to help the guy . . . or girl . . . who turned you into a werewolf and Benny into a zombie?

"There's a few good reasons" said Ethan sharply, as he raised three fingers on his right hand.

The skin definitely was tougher, but it didn't really show.

"First, and most important, it's our only move" said Ethan. "Second, it's not like I haven't made common cause with an enemy before . . . ."

"And they're always doing on the best tv shows or the movies" Rory put in. "Once per season it seems. Like on . . . . but, this person went and turned you into monsters. And you're going to let them off? The one who went to ruin your life. Or at least one night a month of your life. Man, I can't go and forgive a person like that . . . just like that."

"I even worked with Jesse" said Ethan impatiently. "Remember? Reverend Black himself. The guy who wrecked your life and wanted to feed you to Sarah. So invisible-person can't be nearly as bad! Three, I think _we both know_ that helping and letting _guys duped by supernatural forces_ is a really good thing. And Jesse was right about one thing. You know what the good-guys usually do with friends who've been turned into vampires?"

Rory nodded, and looked momentarily abashed. Then Rory smirked, and acted out being staked in the heart complete with gagging noises in his throat.

"You didn't have to fall on the floor" said Ethan, with a grin, for Rory had gone to that extreme.

"Well, dude, I wasn't going to light myself on fire" Rory returned, as he reappeared in the screen.

"Good point" said Ethan. "BTW, you're not, uh, upset about what Jesse said last night?"

"Last night I was" admitted Rory. "But when I was walking home with my _awesome_ night-vision goggles, I remembered . . . why does the Rorster care if a vampire . . . a dead vampire . . . and his gang didn't think he was cool?

"What about always regretting being at the _Westdale_?"

"Ethan" objected Rory. "I regretted being at the _Westdale Theatre_ back when I still thought being a bloodsucker was cool. It would be better if I never went . . . if I left Jesse's party when I called you . . . but . . . it's over. This is old stuff . . . did you change you mind about _Single Tear_?

"Yeah" said Ethan, with a shrug. "There's a copyright exemption for performing for a school dance. What's that cover where they complain about signing autographs?

"AWESOME!" said Rory. "I"ll bring it over with Krypto tomorrow . . . ."

"You can't bring over Krypto" said Ethan. "He's going to attack Benny and me. Just like Krypto attacked your old socks and that King Gremlin. Krypto won't stand for being in the same room as a werewolf and a zombie, genuine or counterfeit.

"Krypto didn't attack you last week" objected Rory. "Nor Benny. And he's here right now and happy to see you. Aren't you Krypto?"

Krypto, wagging his tail, didn't look annoyed.

"Yes, and that first time I was a werewolf" said Ethan, "I was able to talk to Sarah over the web-cam. But when we were in the same room together, her being a fledgeling then, we were at each other's throats."

"Really?"

"Figure of speech" said Ethan, reluctantly. "I'm barely holding it together now. The latest update is, I'm allergic to silver and under some circumstances have to . . . _have to_ , Rory . . . _howl_ . . . ."

"That's nothing" laughed Rory. "Everyone knows how to howl. Dude, we used to do it in _Mole Scouts. Remember? Ah-wooo_!" demonstrated Rory.

Krypto was a fan, and barked in glee.

Ethan growled in reply.

Krypto stopped short, as if he had been muzzled in the middle of a bark. He perked up his ears and stepped back from the screen, looking around frantically.

That growl belonged to a deadly enemy, Krypto knew, one that posed an awful risk to Rory and his pal Ethan (wherever he was hiding and whatever he was doing behind that glass). Krypto needed to protect Rory at all costs; Ethan too, but _especially_ Rory.

Kypto didn't know where that animal was, he couldn't smell it. But Krypto decided to do the best he could do and warn it away.

Rory and Ethan looked unhappily at Krypto as the dog barked and growled as it ran about the room searching for an unseen enemy.

"I'll keep Krypto at home" Rory conceded.

* * *

That evening after dinner, Ethan was anxiously looking at his calendar. Tomorrow was the first quarter. Yet Ethan found himself looking out his windows at what was actually the half-moon, to his chagrin.

"I don't see why they even call it the first quarter" Ethan groaned, or, as usual these days, more like growled to himself.

Just looking at it shining on him made Ethan uncomfortable. Was it psychological? Or was the effect of the "first quarter" already hitting him? Would the mere moonlight from now on make Ethan nervous . . . until disaster struck when it hit its zenith.

Ethan slumped in his desk chair. There was literally nothing he could do until the invisible person disappeared. Ethan had already twice that day checked the municipal police service's website, and that of the _Ontario Provincial Police_ , actually now hoping the invisible person had "appeared" on the missing persons list.

But _nobody_ had mysteriously vanished from Whitechapel since the Lucifractor exploded. This would be normally be good news . . . but now . . . ."

" _What kind of guy wants someone to go missing?"_ Ethan asked himself as he considered this question. " _Well, a desperate guy who wants a invisible dupe to tell him how to take off these curses."_

Ethan was thinking that _he didn't even have anyone to confide in_ at the moment when the doorbell rang.

Ethan jumped as he heard a familiar voice. Ethan sprang up and literally ran downstairs.

It was Sarah.

For all too long, it seemed, Sarah was talking to Jane. But it was a few moments before Sarah turned her attention to Ethan.

"Can I talk to you alone, Ethan?" she said as she put her hand on his wrist.

"Sure. I didn't expect you" said Ethan.

Ethan didn't hide how happy he was to see her, it was obvious from his beaming face. And to Sarah, that made up whatever Ethan's limitations in the subject of romance.

Ethan listened patiently as Sarah warned him about Erica's intention to, as Ethan feared, give him a lecture on how his destiny was to be a werewolf. Not only a werewolf, but (in Erica's stubborn analysis) a _Dusk style werewolf_. If Erica hadn't made another date for that night, in lieu of the cancelled party, she'd be there now. When Erica would approach Ethan, Sarah didn't know. Only that Ethan would need to keep his temper in check.

As for Zombie Benny, Erica thought it might be an improvement over Spellmaster Benny. A lot more suitable for his personality. Of course there were no zombies in dusk. But, as Erica told Sarah, maybe Benny could be "upgraded" to something found in Dusk.

Ethan had hoped Erica would at least be outraged over Benny's curse, the fact she wasn't made him angry. Ethan lost his temper.

"It's great to have Erica on our side" said Ethan sardonically. "I can _almost_ understand why Erica likes the idea of being a vampire. I just don't see why she wants _everyone else_ to be a monster. _Did I ever tell you how much I appreciate your BFF?_ "

Ethan swallowed hard. He didn't even have the luxury of getting properly angry.

"I didn't mean to get on your case, Sarah" Ethan said peevishly. "I . . . I . . . just a little stressed out.."

"I'm tired of reminding you" said Sarah, as she joined Ethan at his desk to look at the well-framed half moon. "I went through this with being a vampire. So I know how it can be when you're all alone facing something like this. Especially when your best friend doesn't see eye-to-eye."

"Or just wants to be alone right" Ethan observed. "And your other pal isn't the guy to confide it . . . not if you want advice. I tried today . . . and, man."

"I can imagine" Sarah said. "But don't worry about sounding too whiny about it, or that I won't think well of you. It's okay."

"Thanks Sarah" Ethan said appreciatively. "I . . . I . . . ."

It seemed as if only in extremes could Ethan tell Sarah his true feelings, overcome his natural awkwardness. Even then, it would sound horribly lame coming from anyone else.

"I _really_ love you" said Ethan, "With all my heart. More than anything I can think of."

"And I love you too Ethan" said Sarah.

Before Ethan knew it, he was holding Sarah in a tight embrace and with a kiss as romantic as any in the movies. Or so thought Ethan and Sarah.

Ethan felt his heart pounding like a sledgehammer and at a breakneck speed. Two thoughts occurred to him, vaguely.

The first: _You're alone with Sarah in your arms in your room and you're sixteen now. You're not just a kid anymore._

The second: _This is Sarah we're talking about. You do or say something stupid now you'll regret it for the rest of your life._

Too soon, in Ethan's mind, Sarah ended the embrace.

"I almost wish it could have gone on forever" Sarah smiled.

"That's a cool thing to say" said Ethan, before awkwardly adding, "but I guess it couldn't. I mean, we'd starve, wouldn't we? Or just get very tired?"

Sarah giggled although she was unsure if Ethan was serious or merely joking.

"It was a cool thing to say" said Sarah. " _It made me forget what I was going to ask you_ . . . I was coming over, thinking that I haven't really seen _Star Wars_ in a long time. Knowing you had all the Blue Rays, really there wasn't anybody better to watch the movies with."

"Where do you want to start?" blurted Ethan excitedly. "New Hope or Episode 1?"

"Episode 1" said Sarah.

"It's not nearly as good as _New Hope_ " Ethan explained. "But we might as well watch them in chronological order . . . _I mean_ by the chronology of the Galactic Republic, not by when the movies were made."

Ethan went to open his bedroom door, and was surprised to see Jane outside. And apparently with her ear to the door the whole time.

"I can't believe you were listening in" he growled furiously.

Sarah and Ethan examined her face. Jane wasn't the least bit taken aback by Ethan's growling.

"I love you too Ethan" she said emotionally. " _Even if you're a werewolf._ "

"Counterfeit werewolf" Ethan observed, as he accepted a rare hug from Jane.

"Temporarily" added Sarah. "We hope."

"But don't tell Mom and Dad" Ethan begged.

"I never do" Jane replied.


	14. Ethan for the Win

**Ethan for the Win**

After a Sarah and _Star Wars_ filled evening, Ethan went to bed feeling himself in spite of the everything else going on. It led to a peaceful night's sleep, at least. But the morning brought an unpleasant surprise.

Ethan woke with a start, discovering he was facing the final couple symptoms that would plague him . . . that is, the final couple symptoms until the full moon.

"Jesse was telling the truth about the first quarter" Ethan growled, as he put his pillow atop his ears. "Ah man! I don't know how dogs can stand it."

The sudden intrusion of the sounds and the smells about him were maddening. Ethan could hear every creak and groan as his parents and sister moved about the house. He could even smell them . . . although how he knew who was who he couldn't figure it. There was some sort of disconnect with his higher thinking processes.

The very fact that Ethan lived in an old Victorian house also worked to his disadvantage. Sure, the house was well maintained and had been rebuilt and modernized over the years. But underneath the modern drywall and fresh paint were layers of mouldy plaster, dry wooden boards, and century-old brick.

"We're out of bacon again" Ethan's mother said in the kitchen, in a normal voice but one that ringed loudly in Ethan's ears.

"Regular or turkey?" asked Ethan's father.

"Both. I can't believe how Ethan been eating."

"It's probably just a teenage thing" volunteered Jane nervously.

From underneath his pillow, Ethan felt _very_ grateful to her.

 _Sure, Jane blackmails me all the time. But she's on my side . . . all it takes is me being turned into a monster!_

"I ate my parents out of house and home at his age" said Ross Morgan genially. "I just wish he'd think of us."

"I wish he hadn't learnt to cook at school" laughed Samantha. "Then he wouldn't have cooked all of it. At least he cleaned the pan. If I didn't know better, I'd think he ate it raw."

Ethan cringed with embarrassment from underneath his pillow.

While Ross Morgan laughed heartily at his wife's joke, Ethan realized that Jane was quiet.

"If only he'd eat the _Shredded Wheat_ " Ross commented.

"North, East, South, West" Jane now volunteered. "Never Eat _Shredded Wheat_."

Ethan smiled. Partly from the memory of the old mnemonic phrase, and partly from Jane's efforts to help him.

"There's nothing like supernatural problems to pull us together!" joked Ethan. "I guess . . . _yahhhhhlp! Shut up_!"

Ethan nearly dove off his bed as his phone went off (Ethan had toyed with using the theme for _Star Wars_ as a ring-tone, but decided he didn't want attention every time his phone rang). He hadn't turned it off the night before.

"Ethan here" Ethan finally answered in a pained voice.

"Let me guess, dude" said Benny, without any prompting. "You've gotten your super-hearing and super-sniffer. Grandma says you might today."

"She could have warned me!" Ethan complained. "And, Benny, not so loud!"

"Grandma says they're the final symptoms" Benny said in a low tone. "I mean, until the full moon if you're not cured in time."

" _Don't_ remind me now."

"Now, Ethan listen to me, buddy. You want your senses to go back to normal, don't you?"

"Of course I do!"

"Concentrate on something in your room" suggested Benny. "Think of . . . _the map_? Your robots? One of your license plates? Just really stare at it, and think about it!"

"My map? A license plate?" Ethan said. "That'll stop this? That's the densest thing I've ever heard, Benny!"

"Yeah. It's stop your senses from going into warp-speed. That's what Grandma says. Well, _except the part about warp-speed_. First try concentrating on something in your room."

Ethan went with his license plates, where he had the choice of several states and provinces. He chose " _Friendly Manitoba_ ". Ethan wondered absent-mindedly how friendly Manitoba was. He considered whether the slogan was ultra-lame, okay, or awesome . . . in a really mundane sort-of awesome."

Well, the idea wasn't so stupid after all. Ethan's hearing and my sense of smell had returned to normal.

"Whatever you do" warned Benny. "don't try to strain your ears or your nose. Don't try to eavesdrop or anything like that."

It was too late. Ethan had tried to find out what he _could_ hear or smell. Again the smell of the mouldy brick and now the sound of frying eggs assaulted his ears.

"Just concentrate on the licence plate again" said Benny.

"It has to be something I can see?"

"Either in front of you or, you know, from memory?"

"From memory? I'll think of something better" Ethan said off hand.

Ethan went by memory, naturally picturing Sarah. He went with their first kiss. Lucifractor night. When he gave her the _awesome_ news that she was completely human again.

And once again Ethan lost his oversensitive sense of smell and hearing.

"You okay now?" asked Benny.

"I'm cool now" Ethan said. "That should hold me as well as any _super-stellar shielding_. Well, until _Musetronics_ practice this afternoon. Man, I really, really, don't want to have to put on my whisper-quiet headphones."

"You'd better not, dude" Benny warned, tongue-in-cheek. "What kind of band can't stand its own music?"

* * *

Erica was still sleeping when Ethan's super-senses suddenly appeared and were just as quickly suppressed. But Ethan's "condition" was in her thoughts a couple hours later when she awoke after having spent most of Sunday morning lounging in bed.

"This is the most awesome thing to happen in the past several months" Erica observed.

She smiled in her bathroom mirror.

"There's some good things about being human" she thought. "But with Ethan being a werewolf and Benny a zombie . . . I could care less about the whole mutant or counterfeit thing they're going on about. _As far as I'm concerned_ , they're werewolf and zombie enough for me. Now I can turn things back to the way they used to be. Better even. Besides, it's okay for a guy to be a werewolf. A zombie? Okay, now that's pushing it. But it fits Benny.

Erica took out a toothbrush. She was still very proud of her brilliant white, albeit fang-less teeth.

Erica considered the state of play. Ethan's monster-busting career began when he stumbled onto Sarah. And Ethan was helped to an enormous degree by his own seer ability . . . and to a lesser degree by Benny's magical powers. Since then, first conscripting Sarah and eventually Rory, they destroyed all that was, in Erica's mind, cool in the town.

With those interfering seer powers gone, and Benny's powers extinguished, so much for monster-hunting! Advantage, Erica! Now Erica considered, what would she need to hit it out of the park?

Ethan and Benny, especially Ethan, had to _love_ being monsters. It wasn't impossible! In fact, it was easy now that they were monsters.

And what perfect revenge for Ethan and Benny's anti-vampire "propaganda" over the last two and a half years!

Benny could be sold on zombies not aging (at least Erica assumed zombies didn't age; Evelyn suspected otherwise). And being tireless automatons (again, Erica didn't know Benny slept away half the day). Erica considered sunglasses hiding black pupil-less eyes were cool . . . just not Benny's side-guarded ones. But Erica wouldn't tell Benny _that_!

Erica went to her room and pulled down her copy of _Dusk V_. Ethan, in Erica's view, now that he was a werewolf, could be remade as the perfect boyfriend for Sarah. _Especially once Sarah, Erica's BFF, chose to become a vampire again!_

Erica had to admit Ethan was tougher than he seemed. And with a little encouragement, Ethan could be a proper beau werewolf for Sarah. His personality would be forced to become attuned to new werewolf interests, abandoning the _loser sci-fi_ for _(literally) meatier things_. Ethan's jealousy and temper would become sharper. And his "pack" (Erica would encourage or somehow force Ethan to join one) would in all other ways guide Ethan to being a "proper" werewolf.

"All I'll have to do is soothe his resistance" Erica observed. "And even if he becomes a sullen or even moody werewolf . . . that would be _dazzling_. He would be just like a character in _Dusk_.

And within a couple months, Ethan wouldn't have any objection to letting Erica and Sarah become vampires again! In fact, he'd encourage them. Somehow they'd find away around the fact that vampires couldn't survive _as vampires_ in Whitechapel!

* * *

"Here she comes" observed Ethan early that afternoon, as he looked out a front window into the yard. "I might as well get this over with."

Ethan had decided to relax in his living room and get in some TV until _Musetronics_ practice later in the day. He had the house to himself. Ethan's parents had gone grocery shopping, while Jane was having a meeting with her _Mole Scout_ group.

Ethan observed that Erica seemed to be dressed very well, and had some sort of cross between a girl's purse and backpack with her.

"It looks like she's going for some sort of visual presentation" said Ethan unhappily.

Ethan briefly supposed that Erica would let herself in the door, much like Rory did for the "fun" of entering uninvited or occasionally Benny when he wanted to talk to Ethan without having to check in with Ethan's parents.

But the ring of the doorbell disabused Ethan of the idea.

* * *

"I like how your parents don't make me take off my shoes" said Erica casually as she stepped into the house and removed her jacket. "These are new."

"Uh" started Ethan. "Oh, uh, nice shoes. They're really high. A little hard to walk on?"

"Cut the small talk Ethan" said Erica. "You know why I'm here?"

"Yeah" said Ethan. "You want to . . . ."

"Give you a quarter" said Erica, matching her actions to her words. She removed a Canadian quarter from her pocket.

The quarter had a picture of a caribou on one side, and the queen's portrait on the other.

"Give me a quarter?" retorted Ethan. "Is this supposed to be a bri . . . ."

The next thing Ethan realized he was howling in pain, and dropped the quarter.

"A werewolf" said Erica, nonchalantly, and ignoring Ethan's furious glare. "And I don't care about the counterfeit crap. I just wanted to make sure. You see, fifty, sixty years ago those coins used to be made with real silver."

"A little geeky for you to know" Ethan retorted, though his attention was mostly towards his right palm.

This time, the silver didn't just make his right hand red. It had burned the flesh brown, so much so Ethan found he had both the silhouette of a caribou and the visage of Elizabeth II branded on his palm.

Another flash of pain, and Ethan's hand healed before his eyes.

"Now, isn't that cool?" said Erica triumphantly.

Ethan took a second to swallow down the growl he was going to give in reply.

"What?" he said angrily. "That I almost had a quarter tattooed on my hand? Or that I'm howling and growling regularly now?"

Erica studied Ethan's glaring and taut face. It only confirmed her impressions.

"Your healing powers" answered Erica. "And even after a minute here, I can tell you have a new, cooler, tougher attitude. You're finally going to be the boyfriend Sarah deserves. Just wait until you join your pack . . . .

"MY WHAT!" Ethan exclaimed. "IF you think I want to hang out with . . . ."

Ethan took a deep breath. He had been expecting all this garbage, this crap, this "fubercarb" (as per the original _Battlestar Galactica_ ). But the silver quarter had thrown him off! Ethan now realized this loss of composure was what Erica wanted.

Ethan looked at Erica and was startled to see she was more impressed than otherwise. Erica never complimented him! This led to a new . . . very alarming thought . . . .

"Are you trying to . . . flirt . . . with me?" said Ethan, aghast. "You know I'm dating Sarah and . . . ."

"No!" said Erica. "Just trying to give a friend some good advice."

Ethan laughed ruefully.

"The last time you gave me advice I went to dinner at a fancy _vampire_ restaurant" Ethan pointed out.

"You'll never let that go" complained Erica. "Besides, you did kill the _maitre de_."

"Staked him in a haunted Toronto mansion, minutes before it burnt to the ground" Ethan bragged. It was the truth, although the story was more involved than Ethan let on.

Although Ethan's attitude about it was perfectly justified, Erica noticed Ethan's hungry, vindictive expression.

To Erica, this was an improvement.

"That's what I like about you, Ethan" said Erica. "Nerdy, but tough. And now as a werewolf . . . ."

"Okay, Erica" said Ethan. "You know I agreed to listen to you. Do you like root beer . . . wait, you like ginger ale, don't you?"

"Never mind the refreshments. Let's go down to the basement" Erica said.

Ethan realized immediately _why_ Erica wanted to "set the stage" in the basement, shrugged, and led her down.

Once downstairs, Ethan sat atop the washing-machine and waited patiently. Erica took her time, and looked around.

"Remember when you were a werewolf the first time . . . ."

" _I can't_ remember"

"You'll remember sooner or later."

"That's not how it works, Erica."

"Well, let's not talk about that now. You should look forward to turning into a wolf, on the full moon and _far_ more often."

"If I could do it more often, I wouldn't. Why would I want to be an animal?"

"How tall are you now? Less than six-feet I think."

"I still have a few more years to grow . . . naturally" Ethan protested.

"But you almost reached the ceiling. That's over seven feet.

"I reached the ceiling _as a werewolf_ " said Ethan, with icy emphasis. "It doesn't count, being tall _as a werewolf_. A man, yes. A wolfman? No!"

"You know what?" suggested Erica. "You'll also be really powerful. It's a lot like turning into . . . that green guy . . . the comic book one . . . what's his name . . . the one who turns into a monster when he's angry?"

" _The Incredible Hulk_?" said Ethan disbelievingly. "You picked the wrong super-hero, Erica. "We don't like the hulk."

"Never mind him" said Erica, annoyed that one of her key selling points failed. "I really liked you as a werewolf. You really looked cool."

"Only because you thought I was David" Ethan returned, impatiently. "And you were cheering me on when I tried to eat Benny!"

"Did I cheer you on when you were fighting with Sarah?" Erica asked. "Besides, you said you didn't remember?"

"I had an earful from Benny and Rory" said Ethan. "Nearly eating Benny, Rory screaming like a girl . . . and fighting with Sarah as she gave me the potion to cure me. Oh yeah, and as soon as you found out it was me, you screamed."

"Only because I had my hands on your naked back" blurted Erica, without thinking.

Erica's face turned red in spite of herself. The only consolation was Ethan looked equally humiliated.

"Do you think Benny or Rory wouldn't mention _that_?" said Ethan.

"You had more control than you say" insisted Erica. "Why else did you go in the basement and stay away from your own party."

Ethan was silent. Rory had been responsible for "Ethan's party". As for why Ethan went to the basement; Ethan had no idea how he reached his basement! The last thing Ethan remembered Benny had "cured" him in the nick-of-time, as the werewolf curse was moving into high-gear. Ethan only guessed that at some point the curse started-up again, and it was then he locked himself downstairs.

"See, Ethan" said Erica, wrongly interpreting Ethan's silence as agreement. "I'm right. And it only took a few minutes. Am I ever good? I might go to Benny next."

"How are you going to cheer on Zombie Benny?" Ethan scoffed.

"Implacable, unstoppable, untiring" shrugged Erica. "He'll love that. Black eyes can be cool, sunglasses are cool. Brain-eating is gross but . . . ."

"I don't see how it's any worse than drinking blood" said Ethan irritably. "Look, Erica. I get . . . I don't agree, but I _understand_ your reasons for wanting to be a vampire . . . _as crazy as they are_!

Erica gave Ethan a cold stare.

"But what's with your pushing being-a-monster on everyone else. You do know Benny and me stand a good chance of being cured?"

" _Cured_!" sneered Erica. "It's always about everyone being _cured_ to you. Everything has to be boring and human. What makes you want everyone to be human again? What's so special about it? We were the l _uckiest people in the world_ to live in a town like Whitechapel where you didn't need to be human to fit in . . . ."

Erica temper blazed as she saw Ethan's face. She crossed her arms and looked at Ethan contemptuously.

At her latest remarks, Ethan had started gaping. As if she had said something both completely insane and offensive.

"Luckiest people in the world! Luckiest people! Largest missing person rate for a town our size in Canada! Erica, get it into your skull! This isn't a _Dusk_ novel. Maybe in some books and movies, being against werewolves and vampires makes you some sort of racist . . . maybe . . . _but this is the real world!_ They're called _curses_ for a reason! Vampires, werewolves, and zombies are once ordinary people who have been _cursed by an evil spell or dark powers._ You know vampires prey on people and love it! Anyone who _actually enjoys_ being a werewolf preys on people and loves it! And their souls . . . man, Erica . . . if they volunteer their selves for that! Well they're really, pretty much twisted . . . doomed really. I know you volunteered, so I guess you'll never really understand. We hoped . . . but right now it doesn't look like . . . ."

Ethan trailed off, supposed this would be the end of the conversation. Erica wouldn't stand for this burst of temper from him. But to Ethan's surprise, Erica merely smirked.

"I didn't volunteer" said Erica, evenly. "I went off with Gord for a _different reason_. But I was smart enough to fly with being a vampire; I realized it was a dream come true. For you, being a werewolf should be the same thing."

Ethan was cheered up. So, it wasn't just that Erica became a vampire expecting to live in a _Dusk_ novel? Jesse . . . not Jesse, but his _sidekick_ , hadn't gone through the trouble of getting Erica to consent to putting that devilish curse on her soul. And Ethan, being the only one about who had ever managed to actually see souls, felt hopeful . . . for Erica at least.

Erica, misjudging Ethan by his suddenly-satisfied grin, thought she had finally managed to get her point across.

"You'll know this is for you once you join your pack."

Ethan's grin disappeared

"Erica, I'm not even sure if werewolves have packs" Ethan replied, and after a second's thought of what a "pack" would be like if there was such a thing, added "And if they did . . . I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them. I have friends, and I don't need or want bloodthirsty werewolves as my new buddies. If any of them had my attitude about being a werewolf . . . they wouldn't want to be in a pack and would want to be cured ASAP."

"Before you _again_ throw away your future . . . ."

"Throw away my future!" scoffed Ethan.

"I'd like you to look at this" said Erica, taking _Dusk V_ out of her bag. "This can be your future."

Ethan narrowed his eyes as he looked at the cover. It had a hot, scantily dressed girl. That was okay! But sitting close by her was a very docile werewolf.

"That's just sick!" Ethan spat.

"Don't they remind you of anyone?"

"NO!"

"The vampire is Sarah, the werewolf is you!"

Ethan couldn't take anymore. He jumped down from the washing machine.

"Get the . . . the frack out of here" Ethan growled, and despite his efforts he now knew the yellow light was shining through his eyes. "Sarah's not going to be a vampire again. And as for me, Erica . . . . I swear, Erica, even if werewolves did look and act like that . . . even if I'm stuck as a werewolf for the rest of my life . . . I would never willingly let Sarah see me as a werewolf . . . again. _And_ I sure as heck wouldn't date her a night I turned into a werewolf."

Then Ethan did what Erica considered nigh unforgivable. Ethan threw _Dusk V_ across the room where it hit just below the small, high window with a thud, before dropping onto the floor with another.

Ethan likewise hit the ground with a thud. Erica had been taking karate lessons with Sarah, and felled Ethan with an uppercut.

Ethan couldn't help but snarl angrily, but swallowed hard before he could do anything else stupid. And then, glaring at Erica with anger in his now burning yellow eyes, he saw her do something he'd never expect. Her face, red with anger, softened.

Erica couldn't help herself. Looking down at Ethan, even with his still glowing yellow eyes, she saw how miserable and low he was. And, to make matters worse, on the floor the guy reminded her of herself, back when she was tormented by Stephanie and her fellow cheerleaders.

Erica considered: Did it really matter to her if Ethan was a werewolf (or Benny a zombie)? Sarah didn't want Ethan to be a werewolf. And really, Erica wasn't doing this for Ethan or Sarah's own good like she was pretending. Was it really worth her while to make everybody miserable to play a role in her fantasy life?

Erica realized she was trying to inflict what would be a slow, steady, torture on Ethan . . . one that Sarah would share as Sarah loved that awkward but very earnest teen.

Just as importantly, what was the end-game? Erica realized the fatal flaw in her plan. How would Erica convince Sarah to become a vampire just because Ethan was a werewolf? Even if Erica somehow managed to convince Ethan to go along with being a werewolf, wouldn't Ethan want to make Sarah a werewolf and not a vampire?

Neither Sarah nor Ethan were all that persuaded by _Dusk_ 's plot and characters.

"Never insult _Dusk V_ " Erica said at last. "But . . . you don't really deserve to be a werewolf."

"No, I don't think I do" said Ethan bitterly, as he stood up.

"I meant you can't appreciate what it means" said Erica, cooly. "But I tried. And really, it'll be cool to help Sarah and the your "geek squad" try to reverse these curses. If they can be."

Ethan looked at her, trying to guess what made her change her mind. But as smart as Ethan was, he just couldn't. Ethan _did_ realize Erica was now sympathetic to his problem, notwithstanding the casual tone she now assumed.

"Maybe people shouldn't be werewolves or vampires . . . if they don't want to be" Erica continued, in a non-committal voice. "And you not being a seer, and Benny losing his powers, it's a major problem. Sarah's my BFF, and if she's going to be in your supernatural-fighting squad she should be better protected than by a zombie, a half-hearted werewolf, and an idiot with a dog."

The yellow glow now faded from Ethan's eyes. Ethan took a deep breath.

"Thanks, Erica" said Ethan. "But . . . about what you just said."

"It's enough I said it once" retorted Erica.

"No" said Ethan. "About Team Sabre."

They were interrupted by the sound of shoes hitting the floor.

"Speak of the idiot" said Erica sarcastically.

Rory had continued his irritating habit of going into houses uninvited. Arriving with Benny, and seeing the basement lights on, he had thought it would be cool to go through the small basement window.

"Rory in the da house, guys" he announced. "What's this? _Dusk_?"

Rory looked at the cover and made a face.

"Gross!" he said. "The wolf-dude is going to suck face with the girl."

Rory had his face slapped by Erica, and the book snatched from his hands.

"Erica's going to help us go after our invisible enemy . . . and the one who sicced our invisible enemy on us" Ethan explained.

"Cool" said Rory. "So you haven't been trying to sell Ethan on being a werewolf like he thought you would?"

"Some people just don't deserve to have curses . . . I mean _gifts_ bestowed upon them" Erica replied haughtily. "I . . . ."

Erica was interrupted. Benny hadn't any interest in falling through a basement window, so he had entered the house normally and gone down the basement stairs.

"Some gifts!" said Benny. "Did you ever try to wear sunglasses indoors, Ethan? Even the way my eyes are now, it takes them _forever_ to adjust. What's that? _Dusk_? Is that a werewolf and a . . . ."

Benny wasn't disgusted. He was laughing too hard for that.

"I knew Dusk sucked" Benny said. "But that's the stupidest, funniest thing I've ever seen. A werewolf and a hot babe, practically canoodling."

Benny received both the uppercut and the slap across the face. Erica left wordlessly, with only a curt nod to Ethan.

"What happened here?" asked Benny, after he had stood up and replaced his sunglasses over his blacked-out eyeballs.

"More talking to Erica than I've probably done in the past two-and-a-half-years" observed Ethan. "And she's given me an idea."

"What?" asked Benny.

"We've been obsessed with how these curses were someone getting revenge on us" said Ethan. "They're definitely that; but something else too. Have you noticed how it's also made Team Sabre a lot less effective in fighting supernatural evil? No visions, no magic powers. Maybe that's part of the puzzle?"

"If Sarah had been a vampire again" Benny said, "it wouldn't have been the case. Vampire powers beat karate kicks, even black belt karate kicks. We had proof of that, dude."

"Your love potion" Ethan observed wryly. "And its after-effects. But, think of this. Anyone who knows anything about magic knows the dark energy's been destroyed in this town. That vampire curse . . . if it was one . . . was made to fail. It was just a red herring to throw us off."

"So, who did it?" asked Rory excitedly.

"I don't know" said Ethan. "It's just something to consider."

"A fracking waste of time then" Benny said.

"Come on, guys" Ethan shrugged. "At least my talk with Erica turned out a lot better than I expected. But let's get something to eat and start getting our routine together for . . . ."

" _MUSETRONICS_ " the three said at once.

* * *

Over a frozen pizza, Ethan related to Benny and Rory most of his conversation with Erica. But on one subject he kept quiet. Ethan didn't tell his friends about Erica never technically having volunteered to be a vampire before she was bit. Ethan supposed that if Erica had wanted anyone to know, she would have said so long ago.


	15. Sucker Punch

**Sucker Punch**

The weather had turned cold, hovering around the freezing mark. Monday was Remembrance Day. Ethan and his friends dutiful wore poppies on their chests and stood silently at 11 am, the time of the armistice ending World War I.

It was a solemn and appropriate Remembrance Day, although Ethan had half-hoped their invisible enemy would show him or herself sometime in the afternoon. With time starting to run out, Ethan felt more anxious by the day.

And it just wasn't the minor trouble of ensuring the four of them weren't out alone. It was the approaching full moon, which, to Ethan's mind, may as well have been the end of the world. And try as Ethan might, his hopes to quickly catch the culprit started to fade.

* * *

Tuesday morning had Ethan feeling sorry for himself, but trying to appear cheerful in spite of it.

It didn't help when Benny decided to suggest Ethan might consider the full moon being wrapped in his dad's towing chain, double-padlocked, and shut in the Weir garage.

"Sarah locked your mom in your garage" Benny reminded Ethan. "When she was a coffee zombie."

"Not helping, Benny" Ethan said impatiently.

"You're right" Benny reflected. "You said she escaped."

"Not helping" said Ethan in a curious tone, as he covered his eyes with his hand.

Ethan had used all his willpower to kill the growl. But he didn't know how to eliminate the burning-yellow.

"Shooting invisible laser-beams from my eyes" lied Ethan.

"Uh, dude, sorry" Benny said, apologetically. "I shouldn't mention _your own mom_ tried to kill you once. As an ex-coffee zombie who wanted to eat you, and a current counterfeit zombie, _you know I'm really not trying to insult your mom_."

Ethan's reply was interrupted by Rory's " _Whazzzzzz up?_ "

* * *

Ethan waited after school for Sarah, who had a Yearbook Committee meeting. It had been a good time, he thought, to finish homework. But the fidgetiness that had afflicted him since being turned into a werewolf rose-up again, and Ethan could barely concentrate.

If it wasn't for Sarah, he would have rushed home and retreated to his room and play video games.

But it wasn't just Ethan's restlessness. Nor was it so much he was afraid, although that was part of it. It was that a dull, heavy feeling of hopelessness and loss was on him.

Ethan stared vacantly at his math textbook, his mind wandering from "i", the imaginary square root of negative one. A problem entered his mind, a completely pointless one, but one that occupied him.

" _What did I do the last full moon?_ " Ethan thought unhappily. " _It might have been the last full moon I ever had as a human being?_ "

"Benny might just be getting off easy by _only_ being a zombie" Ethan groaned.

Zombies, coffee zombies in particular, had Ethan thinking about _Lotta Latte_. Passing by the café with Sarah an hour later, Ethan dully looked in at the window.

"You want to go in?" asked Sarah. "They've hired a new staff a long time ago now."

" _There?_ " asked Ethan. "It isn't exactly my favourite place. But I'm game."

There was nothing like hanging-out with Sarah to cheer Ethan up. Even now it worked. And Ethan managed to laugh as Sarah, for the first time, told him how she had beat up a shop full of zombies . . . but unintentionally scare away the guy who she thought of as boyfriend material.

Sarah feelings had been hurt, back when she had been a vampire. But now, the story seemed funny . . . start to finish.

"You saved his life and he hooked-up with that cashier . . . ." started Ethan.

"They call them Barista's here" Sarah corrected with a smile.

"The Barista" grinned Ethan. "who mixed chicken de-brainer with coffee. Are you ever lucky . . . um . . . ."

"That I got you" said Sarah, while Ethan took the compliment awkwardly.

"As long as we're here" Ethan went on, "I can do poetry. I've been working on it for awhile."

Sarah thought, by any _objective_ measure, Ethan's original poetry had been . . . terrible. Eyes like light sabres? But fortunately, Ethan had gone with memorizing some lines. Sarah thought it was sweet.

Still . . . .

"Your original songs are better" offered Sarah diplomatically, after hearing a few staves of Ethan's poetry. "I'm looking forward to the Grade 9 dance. I signed up to attend?"

"To chaperone?" said Ethan in surprise.

"No! Of course not." said Sarah. "We take photos of students for the dance. So I've signed up. Erica's coming along to. Mostly to gossip about how small the freshman look."

"Looking for fresh blood?" said Ethan deadpan. "Okay, I guess it's a little too soon."

"A little" said Sarah, with a slight smile.

But then she broke into a healthy laugh, which Ethan joined.

All in all, the overpriced coffee and eclair were great; although Ethan was more partial to _Tim Hortons_ than _Lotta Latte_ , even if the coffee zombies had never been a "thing". But Ethan was left hungry, and he realized a key part of his disappointment was the lack of meat.

Sarah had read Ethan's expression when he looked sullenly at the crumbs on his plate.

Ethan had, maturely, resolved not to complain (who likes listening to that all the time?), but was relieved when Sarah brought up the topic.

Sarah, for her part, was interested in _exactly_ what Erica had tried to sell Ethan on being a werewolf.

"I had almost a year of Erica selling me on being a vampire" she pointed out to Ethan. "Remember, I was a Dusker so she had an advantage there. She wasn't desperate enough to argue not liking vampires makes you a racist. There's no real comparison."

"In the real world, at least." Ethan said, musingly. "Benny thought it was a joke, but Erica seemed serious about it."

"She'd say anything to help get her point across" Sarah said reassuringly. "And I know if there were _still_ any good vampires, you'd be their friends. And want them to get cured."

"Same with werewolves" said Ethan wryly. "And I'm front-of-the-line there. But, Sarah, I don't want to complain all the time.

"You haven't been complaining _all_ the time" Sarah said, with a smile.

Ethan walked with Sarah home. On Sarah's offer to drive him back to his house, Ethan shrugged it off. After all, nobody had disappeared. What were the chances of the invisible person finding him now?

And Ethan was a werewolf after all.

* * *

Ethan's cheerfulness disappeared.

"There's no reason I should be afraid of an invisible attacker" Ethan said bitterly to himself as he was walking home. "I'm a growling, howling, cat-chasing, flea-bitten dog now! I'd sooner be a _Klingon_!"

Ethan resolved to take the shortcut across the park next to his house. On side farthest from his own road, Ethan stopped to stare uncomprehending at a red _Chevy Camero_ convertible. Convertibles were uncommon in smaller Canadian cities. This particular car triggered an idea in Ethan's mind.

It was a memory just out of reach, a solution he couldn't find.

Ethan growled in frustration. He then nearly growled again, in frustration at having growling in frustration!

Cutting across the damp November grass quickly left his running shoes green and wet. And Ethan's socks and feet wet too. This was hardly a disaster or even a problem for a teen boy (unless he was going on a date). But Ethan was already out-of-temper. Taking a deep breath,

Ethan looked ahead towards his own house. Maybe a game of _Call of Duty_ would distract him? Losing his temper wasn't a luxury he had anymore. At least for now! Not if he didn't want to act like a "growling, howling, cat-chasing, flea-bitten dog."

There was one problem with Ethan trying to suppress any werewolf instincts that led him to acting like a "growling, howling, cat-chasing, flea-bitten dog." Werewolf instincts occasionally came in use.

Ethan would have heard the sharp breath as he turned the corner near the red Camero. Ethan would have smelt and identified the invisible person who had followed him from the Camero. He would have definitely heard the individual follow him across the wet grass.

And Ethan would have heard something, smelt something, before **POW** , he was punched by behind and toppled into the trunk of the oak tree, and groaned in pain with a well-bloodied nose as he lay crumpled on the grass.

Most teen boys are hardy enough to suffer such punishment. And Ethan was a counterfeit werewolf to boot. So although he was knocked down he wasn't unconscious.

"We tried to cure you blood-thirsty . . . vampires although you tried to kill me" replied a male voice. "Even though we could have waited to stake you when you slept in your coffins. But instead, you went and had your pal Benny turn me invisible in revenge. Now you're going to pay. The fact you hid your casket won't stop me."

And now Ethan's werewolf senses kicked into high gear. Ethan smelt a combination of wet grass, acne cream, hair gel and woolen uniform. A teenage boy.

Ethan heard a small branch snap off the oak tree.

Ethan jumped up from his crumpled position, scarcely caring that his eyes were again glowing the animalistic yellow.

Ethan now knew the significance of the Camero. Who would drive an expensive sports car? What teenager could afford it? Who had transferred from Whitechapel High to a private school the spring before?

And what ex-friend (and fellow mathlete) of Ethan's was as clueless and as accusatory now as he was . . . well, it seemed a lifetime ago but was really only eight months!

"Malcolm Brunner!" Ethan growled, before adding hastily "Grandson of Manafort Brunner. You're the dupe!"

Malcolm Brunner. It was, as Benny would later joke, as if Superman's arch-nemesis had been a cowardly pickpocket working a hockey arena after a Leaf's game.

Yet, here was the invisible dupe, Malcolm Brunner (grandson of Manafort) aiming a very-visible sharp and pointed branch at Ethan's heart.


	16. The Invisible Teen

**The Invisible Teen**

"That's the last time you'll growl at me, vampire" said Malcolm, as he lunged forward, or at least so Ethan judged by the floating wooden stick and Ethan's own sense of smell.

Ethan knew that wooden stakes went through vampires as well as his ultraviolet light sabre did. As for humans, Ethan had read that people were surprisingly vulnerable to being stabbed as well, although not so badly as vampires.

Ethan didn't bother considering what difference there would be for a werewolf.

Ethan tried to dodge, but was too late to avoid Malcolm's attack. Ethan howled in pain as the stick hit him . . . but in the topmost rib. Malcolm was invisible, but he had no idea what he was doing. And Ethan had moved at the last instant.

In Ethan's mind, he replayed the scene at the _Westdale Theatre_ where he had mis-aimed. It made him smile in spite of himself. Especially, since, although Ethan now had a tear in his jacket (and probably his shirt as well), at least his rib now felt no more than mildly sore.

In normal times, a bruised or broken rib would take weeks to recover.

"There's some fringe benefits to this after all" Ethan said dryly, as he sheltered behind the oak.

By the sound and smell of things, Ethan figured Malcolm had fallen to the ground and clumsily brought himself up again.

Malcolm was, after all, like Ethan, a geek and not a natural fighter.

"Don't think you can get away!" Malcolm warned, as he retrieved his stick.

Ethan snarled before he could help himself. Quickly Ethan, bared his teeth and held out his hands, bent like claws. Just as quickly, Ethan flung himself back against the tree, turning red in the face from embarrassment as well as anger.

What was he doing? Was he going to try to bite and scratch Malcolm? Not only would it be ineffective now . . . it would be sick!

Rethinking his plan, Ethan ran toward where, by the smell of the acne cream, he judged Malcolm to be. With his arm out to the side, Ethan attacked with the move he knew to be called, in professional wrestling, a clothesline.

As Malcolm had just picked up his stake, he had been vulnerable. In spite of being taller than Ethan, Malcolm fell to the ground in another heap. But Ethan wasn't a natural brawler, and his (unwanted) supernatural abilities hadn't yet come into their own. So just when Ethan was considering what he'd do next, Ethan was tripped by Malcolm.

Ethan, brought down again, was subject to several punches. Ethan did his best to block them and counter-punch, but it's not easy when you're only judging by your opponent's smell. Things were quickly going badly, as Ethan had a direct hit on his nose.

Ethan gagged and spluttered as something warm dribbled into his mouth. Blood and mucus from his nostrils.

For the last few moments, Ethan had held his mental command. Aside from the growling, which seemed the most difficult to suppress, Ethan's conscious mind had been directing his actions. But now, lying prone, Ethan's werewolf instincts again began to take command.

Somehow, Ethan jumped up. Ethan kicked away an attempt by Malcolm to stab at his foot with the stake. Ethan bared his teeth once more.

Ethan again growled in his rage. He held his hands out like an animal about to attack. And . . . hesitated. Ethan stopped in confusion.

Every instinct was saying to rush the teenager . . . the kid that smelt of hair gel, acne cream, wool school uniform and leather shoes . . . and rip him to shreds!

Ethan compromised. With a punch, and a sickening thud, Malcolm hit the trunk of the tree and collapsed to the ground.

"You're . . . you're not going to scare me with those fangs" groaned Malcolm.

The idea he had fangs horrified Ethan so much, he started to feel his teeth. His incisors were normal. While Ethan considered fangs to be cool in the movies and comics, _he didn't think they were cool on his gums_.

"I don't think" started Ethan angrily, but that was as much as he was able to say. The rest of the words emerged as so much as something between a growl and a snarl they were unintelligible . . . _even to Ethan_.

"Don't . . . don't think you can intimidate me" Malcolm replied.

Ethan shook his head, clearing his mind.

"Malcolm, stay there" Ethan ordered, getting his voice and mind back under control.

"Listen to a vampire? Just try to make me! Maybe you've got me, you freak, but you won't always win. _Good is more powerful than evil!_ "

Ethan looked in the _general vicinity_ of the invisible Malcolm with wide-eyed astonishment.

"Malcolm, we're on the same side"

Ethan words were met with derisive laughter.

"This can't go on like this" Ethan thought to himself. "I need Malcolm on our side . . . okay first to save us, but also for his own good. I can't fight him . . . I can't even control myself in a fight. Next to actually turning into a werewolf, not being able to control myself must be the worst part of the curse."

It was then Ethan smelt a stale whiff of sulphur from the oak above his head.

A couple months ago, this was where a gremlin king held his last stand. Jumping about the oak and dodging holy water.

"I'm going to prove I'm on the side of good" Ethan replied. "Just . . . stay there."

"Yeah right . . . BLOODSUCKER!"

Ethan decided to take a risk. Quickly he climbed the tree into the lower branches. Ethan though this would show Malcolm he meant no harm. Besides, it would protect Ethan from attack . . . and perhaps more importantly, stop Ethan from going on a curse-induced rampage.

Ethan had to talk sense into Malcolm, but where to begin? Malcolm still believed Ethan had tried to run him down with his own car!

"You think you can pounce on me?"

That was a bit of luck, as the perfect reply came to Ethan's mind.

"Cats pounce" said Ethan, resignedly. "Werewolves don't."

There was a profound silence.

"You sound more like a werewolf than a vampire" Malcolm acknowledged. "I'm guessing, you know."

"I know" said Ethan.

"But how can I trust you? You tried to run me down?"

"You believe in vampires" Ethan stated. "Well, your grandfather's car was evil . . . _you know_ it preyed on your family years before I was born . . ."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"How many accidents did it cause in your grandfather's time?" said Ethan heatedly. "You remember _Doug the Scarefinder_ once had a special on cursed cars. I know you used to watch the show. You were a fan, just like me. Doug talked for five minutes about James Dean's Porsche convertible. Well, your car was possessed by a vamp. Why else do you think _we staked it_ through the heart . . . I mean, the gas tank? A _s a lame prank?_ "

Ethan heard Malcolm bringing himself to his feet.

"Don't go! Is it that hard to believe? I mean you're fracking invisible, Malcolm! And you can't turn yourself visible again."

"Yes, I am" Malcolm replied. "But how do I know you're not behind it?"

"Why don't you think for once" Ethan retorted. "If I were an evil vampire . . . ."

"Or evil werewolf" said Malcolm. "As you say you are."

"I'm a werewolf because _you_ turned me into one" Ethan couldn't help but growl. "Before you ruined my life I was as human as you are. You and your idiotic box of spells who-knows-who gave you. And, that reminds me, Malcolm . . . if I were a vampire, why would I ever go to the _Casa de Ajo_ , a place that means House of Garlic in Spanish!"

Malcolm was silent, but Ethan, listening carefully, could hear Malcolm breath very shallowly. The type of breath one takes in horror or guilt.

"And if I were an evil vampire, why would I turn you invisible . . . so you can take me by surprise" continued Ethan, careful now to suppress any growl as his eyes finally returned to their natural brown. "But you don't have to take my word on that. I can look in the mirror, borrow some garlic cloves from Rory, go to a church . . . a synagogue . . . anywhere where's there's something holy to prove that _at least_ I don't have my _soul_ cursed.

"And Benny?"

"You turned him into some type of zombie" Ethan replied.

"Doesn't he have magical powers?"

"He did" said Ethan. "But they came about naturally, he was born with them. It's like . . . like _Harry Potter_. Only Benny's not very good with them . . . yet."

"What about Sarah?"

"Your curse on her failed" said Ethan cooly. "After what she went through for almost two years, that's something to be happy about."

"What did she go through?"

"Let her tell you" said Ethan defensively. "If she wants too. Let's just say she's also perfectly human . . . and that's the way she's going to stay!"

"Wait a minute" said Malcolm suddenly. "You almost had me for a moment. If you were all on the side of good, why did you turn Rory into a vampire and have him hunt me down?"

"I turned Rory into a vampire?" said Ethan, his voice cracking. He added suddenly, wincing, "He tried to kill you?"

Ethan wracked his mind back to the incident of the "fanged and furious" Brunner sports' car.

Ethan winced.

The final occasion where Malcolm threatened to report Ethan to the police, Rory was standing-by. Rory was practically drooling over Malcolm's leaking bandages. But Ethan hadn't been paying attention to Rory at the time, and had been discussing what to do about the vampire-possessed car with Benny. As for Rory . . . Ethan had let him walk off, slowly stalking Malcolm as if he were one of Rory's many rats.

Rory had walked off blood-thirsty. And Ethan wondered if Rory's conscious had been working well enough to tell him not to kill Malcolm, although Malcolm had just threatened reporting Ethan to the police . . . .

"There he was, yellow eyed and fanged, right behind me as I stood outside the nurse's office" Malcolm continued. "You know . . . that's low. Turning a guy who still writes letters to Santa Claus into a vampire."

"Says the guy who sells his grandfather's _bequests_ dirt-cheap" observed Ethan. "But I know about Rory and Santa. And I didn't and wouldn't turn Rory into a vamp! In fact, I tried to save him from that . . . and eventually did . . by accident. But what did Rory do to you?"

"Nothing" said Malcolm. "Just then Stern came around the hall behind him, and Rory jumped in his skin. He was back to normal . . . you know, for Rory . . . but a few minutes later while I was in the nurse's office, I looked through the window and saw him looking for bloody bandages in the trash and sniffing around like a dog."

"Rory!" Ethan snapped, although Rory was nowhere in sight.

Ethan was less angry than he might have been, currently under the influence of a personality-altering curse himself. He understood what being literally bloodthirsty did to someone. Even Sarah had thought Ethan smelt irresistible when he was bleeding!

"That's when I knew I had to go to a proper school."

"There's nothing wrong with Whitechapel High, except the jocks" said Ethan, defensively. "And Rory couldn't help himself, I know he never killed anyone the two years . . . one year ten months . . . he was a vamp. How'd you like to know _the truth_ about what's been going on in Whitechapel? And how vampires really are?"

"I . . . guess so" said Malcolm, uncertainly.

"Okay Malcolm" Ethan replied, as he climbed down from the oak, and wiped the blood from his face. "I guess we're friends again. In fact, I think _you really owe me_. You'll tell me everything you know about who you're working for?"

"Yeah" said Malcolm, with an invisible shrug. "High five?"

The two tried a high-five.

"Ow" said Malcolm. "That's my eye."

"Let's try a handshake?" suggested Ethan. "Where's you hand?"

* * *

Ethan went quickly over the past two years and the rise and fall of Whitechapel's vampires. Ethan reviewed spellmasters, Evelyn Weir, and his seer powers. He only tried to keep Sarah's being a vampire a secret, but Malcolm was smart enough to realize she had also fallen prey to Jesse ne Reverend Horace Black.

And, with a short detour to the Camero's passenger-side mirror, Ethan used his reflection to prove he wasn't a vampire.

* * *

"I know it's hard to believe . . . but there's one more thing _I have to_ tell you. You're marked for death by whoever's been using you. You're not just invisible, in a week you'll disintegrate."

Malcolm had unlocked the car doors, and been about to enter the driver's side door.

Ethan heard Malcolm stop in his tracks.

"Get in, Ethan" said Malcolm in a nervous tone. "I'll tell you who."

Ethan went in, and waited impatiently while Malcolm raised the windows, and put on the radio. And the engine, and the heater for good measure.

Finally, Ethan heard what he was waiting for; ever since he discovered he was a werewolf.

"A few weeks ago, when I was leaving the academy, Stephanie was waiting right by my car."

"The lunch-lady?" Ethan questioned.

"No! That old woman? That hot girl with the . . . You know, Stephanie, she used to be the head cheerleader. While, she said she wanted to be with me . . . ."

"I guess that sort-of short-circuits your mind" said Ethan, looking blankly ahead as he remembered what Stephanie used to look like. Nowhere as good as Sarah, but . . . .

"How did she become young again?" Ethan asked.

"Young again?"

"Never mind"

"She explained she was a good witch, and she had inherited her powers from her grandmother."

"Wait until Benny and Mrs. Weir hear that" Ethan muttered. "A good witch! Mrs. Weir's going to freak out . . . spellmasters never call themselves witches."

"And she knew I knew about vampires because of Rory . . . ."

"Being the lunch-lady she had her eyes on everything for the past two years" Ethan observed.

"What makes you think she was the lunch lady?"

"BECAUSE she was" Ethan said. "But she isn't anymore because she left town."

"I know" said Malcolm. "She said the vampire council were on to her."

"There aren't even any vampires in Whitechapel anymore" said Ethan. "As for the vampire council, I know two out of the three of them are dead. Not living dead, but actually dead."

"Well, that's what Stephanie said" said Malcolm. "She relied on me . . . being brave, rich and handsome . . . ."

Ethan gave his shooting-invisible-laser beams from his eyes look at Malcolm. It was marred by the yellow flaring in his eyes.

"To target the leaders. You, Sarah and Benny. Once you cured or killed the head vampires, the followers would be cured as well."

"That would be cool" said Ethan, dryly. "Even better than vampires lying in coffins ready to be killed. But how can Stephanie have left town if she's still here serving lunch?"

"It's not the same Stephanie" Malcolm objected. "Being a werewolf has really fried your brain, Ethan."

"Not really" said Ethan irritably, with the taint of a growl in his voice. "Stephanie was an evil witch. Actually, she's as old as Benny's grandmother. She made herself young again, became the head cheerleader, and tried to steal the souls of every student at Whitechapel High. Benny's grandmother took away her powers . . . Mrs. Weir's powers are natural or somehow gifted, I don't know where Stephanie's come from . . . and made Stephanie her true age. The lunch-lady Stephanie."

"Well, she was a bit old school" Malcolm allowed. "She even uses a flip-phone. She even had a land-line at her condo. Would you believe she _mailed_ me a letter just yesterday to tell me that you might turn me invisible? And that I should try to kill you first."

"Knowing that, being a werewolf, I'd probably kill you before you could disintegrate" Ethan said, sinking in the seat. "I wouldn't be able to help myself. I'd destroy you . . . and me. In fact, I'd probably go to prison and turn into a werewolf right in front of the warden and the guards!"

"They'd send you to a jail for guys under 18" Malcolm pointed out.

"I'd turn into a werewolf in front of the youth jail warden and guards" Ethan replied impatiently. "I'd be exposed as a werewolf in front of the whole world . . . man, why did I ever complain about dealing with the supernatural as a seer! Wait, you said she had a condo!"

"Apartment 205, 38 Park Road" Malcolm said. "That new place downtown. I mean, she had several old leather books. Besides that, it wasn't really strange. But there was this old-school film camera."

Ethan nearly jumped up on his feet, although he was sitting in a sports car.

 _Stephanie had stolen . . . yes, stolen . . . Evelyn Weir's camera!_ The one that made soulless evil duplicates of anyone unlucky enough to be caught before its lens.

"Did she take your picture?" Ethan asked hoarsely.

"Yes" said Malcolm. "I asked where she was going to develop it."

"We better get Team Sabre together" said Ethan. "We won't find Stephanie there, but we'll sure to find your evil twin guarding the place."

"Evil twin?"

"I'll explain later" said Ethan, as he pulled out his smart phone, and began texting to Sarah, Benny and Rory as if his life depended on it. "But Stephanie didn't just want you out of the way. She wanted you replaced."

Stephanie, concluded Ethan, must have made a double of herself to throw off suspicion.

" _But why does Stephanie had a good twin, instead of just another evil Stephanie?_ " Ethan thought as the Camaro carried him around the corner to Benny's, with the invisible Malcolm at the wheel. " _Or how the heck Stephanie has her powers back? Or where she's gone? And how are we going to beat her?_ "

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Special thanks to MBAV fan 66 for describing Malcolm as the "Invisible Teen" - and giving me an awesome name for this chapter!


	17. Dupes, Decoys and Evil Twins

**Dupes, Decoys and Evil Twins**

Given Benny's house was just around the corner, Ethan and Malcolm were waiting for Benny by the time he was just _starting_ to get an earful from his Grandma Evelyn.

When Benny did finally walk out through the side door, Benny gave Ethan a thumbs up. He made a detour to the Weir's old-style garage at the side of the house. Benny slammed-up the garage door; and, holding an padlocked wooden-box, went and carried it inside the house.

A few more minutes passed.

By this time, Ethan (by again concentrating on Sarah) had returned his senses as well as his eye-colour to normal. Ethan then made a further explanation to Malcolm; getting Malcolm up-to-speed on his soulless evil duplicate, and how Stephanie's not-so-evil duplicate had been a decoy to lure Ethan and his friends off the trail.

Following up an idea, Ethan checked Stephanie's listed phone number and address. It wasn't the new luxury condo, but an old low-rise apartment building.

"Stephanie's duplicate assumed lunch-lady Stephanie's life" Ethan said musingly. "She must have taken the cursed picture before she made herself young again . . . somehow. The duplicate didn't know anything about Stephanie's new plan . . . or at least was quickly placed under the memory spell in Benny's spell book.

"Is that memory gone forever, or just suppressed?" asked Malcolm quickly.

"I don't know" said Ethan. "But if it's just suppressed, it could be a lead on where Stephanie is!"

Benny finally arrived, with a quizzical expression on his face, only partially hidden underneath his side-shield sunglasses.

Benny's face hardened when he reached the Camaro.

" _And_ " thought Benny, " _how cool can I be when I come face-to-invisible-face with the guy responsible for me eating . . . brains!_ "

" _You . . . are . . . dead!_ " Benny told Malcolm, as he leaned in at driver's side door and removed his sunglasses to show his black pupil-less eyes in all their glory.

Malcolm backed up so far he shoved Ethan, who in turn roughly pushed him back toward Benny.

"You're _especially dead_ if I end up spending the rest of my life un-dead because of your brain-dead attack on me _when I was on a date! You . . . are . . . so . . . dead!"_

To get into the backseat of the Camaro, Benny had to push the driver's seat forward, and did he ever. He shoved the invisible Malcolm into the steering wheel. As the back seat of the Camaro was especially cramped for Benny, he made sure to kick the driver's seat a couple times as he sat down.

"How many times can you put dead into a sentence?" quipped Ethan, once Benny was finally seated.

"It's not me you have to fear, Malcolm" Benny threatened. "It's my grandma. You just hope she spanks you with lightning. Once we finish with your evil twin, she wants to see you . . . warp speed!"

Malcolm hadn't any response, so he kept silent.

"Did she say how Stephanie did it?" said Ethan.

"No" said Benny. "But she knows. She has that look in her wrinkled, grandmotherly face. And she's also really angry."

"The shouting kind of angry?" asked Ethan. "Or the other kind; that cold, sarcastic kind of angry she specializes in?"

"Cold, sarcastic, angry . . . _love potion level_ angry, if not worse . . . but not at us" said Benny, who looked relieved as he let that part out. Maybe not even at this _idiot_ here . . . ."

"You know Benny . . . ." started Malcolm.

"You're invisible, on your way to disintegration" Ethan interrupted. "And you helped turn Benny into a type of brain-eating, black-eyed zombie."

Malcolm again fell silent.

"The picture and the good twin must have been some clue" Benny said. "Because that's when she said she overestimated Stephanie."

"You mean underestimated?" said Ethan.

"No, dude, Grandma said underestimated" Benny said, as he looked about him. "What's with this back-seat? A Camaro is only supposed to have two seats here? What's with the third belt in the middle?"

"I had a third seat-beat added in the middle" said Malcolm. "It's a custom five-seater."

Benny laughed. "Good luck getting a third person here! They'd have to put their legs on the cup holders!"

"We'll need the seat anyway" said Ethan. "Because we're picking up Sarah and Rory."

* * *

Rory was waiting impatiently on the curb, having left Krypto inside . . . knowing full well the puppy could stand neither Ethan nor Benny at the moment. To Rory's surprise, the Camaro drove up to him with no visible driver.

"Is this a self-driving car?" asked Rory excitedly, putting his head inside. "How cool is tha . . Ow!"

Rory had head-butted Malcolm by mistake.

"No, it has an invisible driver" said Malcolm.

"You brought . . . Malcolm along?" Rory asked.

"Right here" Malcolm said angrily.

"Dude . . . I swear . . . I wasn't going to bite you" Rory started, rapid fire, and with an eye toward his house in fear his mother or father might _just_ be listening in. "You see, I never had human blood . . . well at the party and there was this blood drive . . . but when I was a vamp human blood was always something that did something to my head. So . . . ."

"Rory, we know the story" interrupted Benny. "Just eat one of those garlic cloves you're always carrying around and look in the mirror.

Rory obliged, passed one to Ethan, Benny. Rory even gave one to Malcolm . . . and looked curiously as one of the garlic cloves disappeared into Malcolm's invisible throat.

"I can't really put too much blame a guy who still writes to Santa Claus" Malcolm observed in a friendlier tone.

Ethan and Benny looked daggers at Malcolm, as Santa Claus was a subject they never discussed with Rory. But Rory wasn't the least bit troubled by the remark.

"Yeah" Rory said brightly. "If I had actually bitten or drained anyone, I would definitely have gone onto the naughty list. As it was, when I was a bloodsucker, I was probably the only vamp who had their stocking filled by Santa. . . well, besides Sarah."

"I _think_ you could say you were the only one" Benny said dryly.

Ethan hopped out of the car to let Rory squeeze into the back seat of the convertible.

* * *

Sarah had been busy attacking her homework. She spared time for a call with Erica, who to Sarah's surprise asked about Ethan. As it had been obvious the mental strain was getting to Ethan, Sarah dwelt on it.

"It would be so much easier if he just liked being a werewolf" Erica had complained, but ended with a sigh. "But tell me what's going on, and I'll see what I can do."

"You will?"

"I'm sure Ethan already told you how everything went down" Erica observed irritably. "I wouldn't be much of a BFF if I let your self-pitying lycanthropic boyfriend torture you both."

"I can't believe there's actually a word for it" Sarah had said sarcastically. "And it's not just werewolfism."

"Lycanthropic is full of drama and romance" Erica replied.

"And blood and bodies" was Sarah's reply in turn.

* * *

Sarah wasn't the least bit impressed by Malcolm's reasoning. Unlike Ethan, Benny or Rory, she didn't buy the argument that a cheerleader could get around a teen boy's better judgement. And the fact that Malcolm had been duped into thinking he was on the side of good wasn't much of an excuse.

Sarah reminded everybody of Malcolm's role in manipulating the bingo, before she continued.

"I can't believe you were stupid enough to let a witch turn you invisible and carry her box of spells to a restaurant" Sarah said. "By the way, why did Stephanie need him at all? She could have done it herself and make a quick getaway?"

"I thought of that" Ethan said. "Remember how Malcolm sat far away from us, just so my seer powers . . . I can't believe how much I miss them now . . . wouldn't pick him up. Remember, he thought he was doing something good, that he was curing us and making us human instead of cursing Benny and me to be _inhuman_. Well, even at that distance, with a _mortal threat_ like Stephanie in the restaurant with a box full of curses . . . there's a chance I would have picked her up anyway.

"And Grandma would have caught Stephanie playing with the bingo chips" Benny added. "By the way, turning Grandma's favourite grandson . . . ."

"Only grandson" joked Ethan.

" _Favourite_ grandson" Benny stressed, "into a counterfeit zombie . . . ."

"Counterfeit?" asked Malcolm.

"We'll explain later" Ethan said.

"Well, that's bad" Benny continued irritably. "But tampering with Grandma's bingo, that's _unforgivable_."

Everyone laughed, although it took a second for Rory to be sure that Benny was joking.

* * *

Rory and Benny stopped laughing when Sarah resolved to drive the car herself, and Malcolm joined the two in the already cramped back seat . . . with Benny, in spite of his height, having his shoes and feet stuffed into the central-cup holders and nearly bent double.

* * *

Thirty-eight Park Road was a five-storey building on a new street surrounded by just constructed townhouses. This subdivision wasn't yet completed, and the Camaro bounced over a couple of raised manhole covers on its way to several visitor's parking places on the far side of the building.

In many ways, it was the worst possible place Stephanie could have chosen as her home. To get to her apartment, they would have to get past the security system and closed-circuit video in her lobby. Then they would have to get into her second-floor apartment. And, unless they gave up and called Evelyn Weir, this would not be easy.

And there was literally a building full of people just several feet away waiting to call the police if they saw an illegal activity . . . like a break and enter.

It was November, and night fell early. But the lights on the building couldn't be relied upon to work in their favour.

But was it impossible? After the five of them tumbled out of the Camaro, Ethan looked about.

Then Ethan checked his smart-phone. The condos had only recently sold-out, and the blueprints were still online. 205 was a corner unit with a balcony, and it was only one floor up. Ethan looked at Sarah with a smile, then he looked at Benny, then Rory. Finally he looked towards Malcolm.

"We have the invisible teen on our side" Ethan said in a low tone. "That makes all the difference. I have a plan. Let's get back in the car."

"We have to?" Benny complained. "It's cool . . . but overcrowded. And I don't trust these zombie legs. _They might just fall off_ if I bend them too much!"

* * *

The plan began with Malcolm entering the visitor's lobby alone. He walked up to the computerized security system, which here was a set of speakers and a table of buttons alongside the names of everyone in the building. Access to the inner building was prohibited via a locked inner door. The best course of action would be to wait for someone to go through by themselves, and Malcolm to tail them before the door closed. But Team Sabre (plus Malcolm) didn't want to wait, and they didn't need to.

Malcolm looked through the buttons and the individual apartment. It would be worse than useless to buzz the evil twin at 205 and try to get _him_ to open the door. Malcolm used the button for the building manager. Malcolm pushed it again as the camera lens zoomed toward him repeatedly.

The building manager, a sixty-something bald man with a double-chin and a fringe of white hair, arrived grumbling with a tool-box in hand. He opened the inner-door manually.

Malcolm quickly went inside.

The manager looked about the machine, which he had no real idea how to repair, and shrugged.

"Darn computer!" he exclaimed. "If it rings me again I'll call up tech to deal with it."

Once the manager had left, Ethan, Benny and Sarah went into the lobby. They made a point of looking over the buttons for show, as anyone in the building could see (but not hear) them on the closed-circuit camera. Benny pretended to push a button (to an apartment on the fifth floor penthouse). Then Malcolm let them in through the inner door.

"You know what to do, Malcolm" said Ethan in little more than a whisper.

"And keep Rory out of trouble" added Sarah. "We don't want him arrested."

"I should have tried it myself" said Ethan.

"But you and me can't take that job right now" observed Benny. "Rory's arrested, he's arrested. We're arrested, we're dead . . . _at least if we don't make bail_. The criminal justice system _just doesn't know_ what to do with zombies and werewolves these days."

"These days?" quoted Sarah, laughing. "But I think the time for joking is over."

* * *

The three eschewed the elevator for the stairs. They walked upstairs and down the hall to Apartment 205. Luck for the first time in awhile favoured Ethan, as the unit door was at the end of the hallway by itself.

Ethan was chosen for the next job, as his voice had (as Erica correctly observed) slightly changed in the past week.

"It seems to have turned rougher" Ethan now acknowledged sardonically, "Just so I can slide into a growl or snarl mid-sentence."

Ethan swallowed so he didn't demonstrate the point, but then knocked on the door loudly.

"PIZZA here" he said roughly. "Large Sauerkraut Pizza with pineapple and ham."

"I can't believe Malcolm likes Sauerkraut Pizza with pineapple and ham" Benny observed. "You've got to be sick to like that. And with his money! I'd be getting Reeces Pieces Party Size every day!"

"When this is over, you two can exchange notes on sickest pizza combos" Sarah replied deadpan.

"He's coming" mouthed Ethan, who had his ear to the door listening intently.

It was a big mistake.

Ethan stopped listening in at an instant and covered his ears. He growled before he could stop himself.

"What's the matter?" asked Sarah.

"A condo building full of people at supper" Ethan said in a slight growl, although again he had tried to regulate his voice. "That's what. Just get in while I get my hearing under control."

"Get in all three of you" said Malcolm, or rather his double as he opened the door. "Don't think of calling for help, this is a luxury-place. These walls make each apartment as quiet as the grave. What am I forgetting? Oh, yeah. Come in with your hands up!"

Malcolm's evil twin didn't have any super-powers, but what he did have was a short-barrelled shotgun aimed right at them.


	18. Greed

**Greed**

Malcolm's evil twin wasn't invisible. Yet the tall teenager in white dress shirt and blue trousers wasn't what Sarah, Benny or Ethan were staring at. It was the twelve-gauge shotgun. Evil Malcolm waved them in, as he locked, double-locked and chained the hall door.

"This is a _Grizzly 12 gauge, 8 ½ inch barrel shotgun_ " Evil Malcolm observed. "I don't have magic powers, so it was leant to me by Stephanie."

"Witches don't exactly register on background checks" Ethan said laconically, and in a growl.

"And just for you Ethan, it's been loaded with silver shells. But I think the cure for movie zombies is a bullet to the head, so it'll also work on you Benny."

"I _almost_ forgot about that" Benny observed.

"And I know you could kick my butt, green-belt" Malcolm told Sarah. "But this evens the field."

"If you don't get too close" Sarah replied.

"By the way, how do you like _your boyfriend_ with those yellow eyes?" Malcolm returned, as Ethan's eyes had again changed colour.

"I've been there" said Sarah, as she gave Ethan a glance. "Ethan might have trouble with his eyes and voice, but his mind's the same as ever."

That bit of encouragement gave Ethan command enough of his thoughts to look around. The condominium looked like it was straight out of a furniture-store showroom. Leastways, to Ethan's mind, the _girly_ section as everything was pink or frilly. The exceptions were what caught Ethan's quick mind.

Ethan noticed there was one, and only one, photo on the wall. It was a large picture of the cheerleading Stephanie doing a pose in uniform and mini-skirt. But why did someone as vain as Stephanie only have one photo of herself? Well, _obviously she hadn't intended to live there that long_!

But why _then_ did she have that one picture at all? It _was_ about the right size . . . it was the right size for a wall safe. But how to open it!

Second, and least important, were some car magazines and a laptop. Obviously something to occupy the Evil Malcolm while he was stranded in the girl's apartment.

Third, were a few old books on a book shelf, that the Real Malcolm had mentioned. Obviously magic books of some type.

Last, was a podium of mahogany-stained wood. There had been a book atop it, and a heavy one at that as it had left an indentation where it had stood. Stephanie had taken it with her. That might be important . . . .

"I'm Stephanie's second backup" observed the Evil Malcolm, as he continued to hold the shotgun, but leaned against the wall. "Did you get Malcolm 1.0 when he attacked you, Ethan? I just mailed the letter yesterday, in time for him to become invisible?"

"I . . . got him" lied Ethan, hesitantly. Or rather, he dissembled.

"That's the thing about werewolves" Evil Malcolm smirked, as he looked at Ethan. "They're half animal, but they keep their consciences. You can't stand having his blood on your _paws_. Did Malcolm dissipate or did his body reappear once he was dead?"

"He didn't reappear" Benny interjected.

"That's half my work done" said Evil Malcolm relieved. "I was worried I'd have to dispose of _that_ body. I needed to stick around here until the first Malcolm died, to finally take my rightful place as the new Malcolm Brunner. Now that his side of the family had finally come into their money, it's a really awesome place to be. Of course, there's his jock brother and his snot-nosed cousin . . . I might get rid of them later."

"Don't you have plans to use the camera and make more evil twins and take over the world?" asked Benny. "Isn't that what evil twins do?"

"What are you doing?" said Sarah, sarcastically. "Suggesting it to him?"

"No worries about _that_ , Sarah" Evil Malcolm said. "This evil twin is out for himself. Who needs to take over the world when you're as rich as I am? More evil copies might ruin my future fortune and my position. Right now I only have my two cars . . . ."

"Two cars!" said Benny.

"The Camaro convertible you _stole_ . . . thanks for retrieving it for me . . . and an orange Dodge Challenger" said Evil Malcolm. "But . . . ."

"Malcolm gets two brand-new sports cars, and he's not even older than us!" Benny said to Ethan. "Last year he was going to school with us, and living in an ordinary brick townhouse. Can you believe it!"

"Benny, forget it" Ethan said. "The guy has a loaded shotgun pointed at us, remember."

"But why listen to Stephanie at all then?" Sarah interrupted.

"Because she phones in her instructions."

"But she doesn't really have any power over you" Ethan added. "It's obvious you have the camera and the picture that created you in the wall safe."

Evil Malcolm started.

"Even so" he said, as he took a defensive step backwards toward the safe. "I can't let Stephanie get angry with me. She can end me, or make me spend my life howling at the moon . . . or eating brains . . . just l _ike you two here._ But then again . . . your life isn't going to be that much longer."

"If you try to shoot us the whole building will hear it" Sarah said. "No matter how well the walls are insulated."

"That's true" said Evil Malcolm cooly, who for some reason took this moment to hawk and spit. "But I will if I have to. I don't want to waste any of my life in prison, or risk the real Malcolm's inheritance. I've been watching the front lobby on the closed-circuit tv for the past several days, hoping I wouldn't have to do this work. I just have to guard you, before the roads are clear enough for me to take drive you out to the woods and destroy you. I'm thinking the woods, you know by the old cemetery by the old White Chapel church."

Evil Malcolm snickered. "How do you feel about dying there?"

"Yeah dude, it'll bring back a lot of happy memories" scoffed Benny.

* * *

Evil Malcolm waved the three to the pink sofa, and motioned them to sit down. He himself took a maroon recliner for himself.

By the greatest luck, or so Ethan, Sarah and Benny thought, the sofa faced the glass doors to the balcony . . . .

Although the shotgun still pointed at him, Ethan relaxed to the point where his eyes turned back to their natural brown.

"The only thing good about a girl's apartment is the girl herself" Evil Malcolm said casually, then looked at Benny. "You know, I can never become a vampire . . . no soul to curse and obstruct from the light. Or a witch . . . no soul to barter . . . ."

Ethan, on that remark, looked at Evil Malcolm thoughtfully.

"You're the magic geek, Benny" said Evil Malcolm. "If I were to eventually get a trophy wife . . . ."

"And I thought the original Malcolm was a jerk" Sarah retorted.

"Could I get a heir?" Evil Malcolm asked. "If you can't have a soul, and you can't live forever, you may as well get an heir. I don't want my fortune to go to waste after I die. I want to keep my money in my line."

"Evil Malcolm" said Ethan, rather surprised by the turn of the conversation. "You're sixteen. Sixteen year old guys don't talk about getting heirs."

" _And they'd probably talk about kids, not heirs_ " Sarah added.

"But if you want your answer" Benny said. "Soulless duplicates don't get heirs. _I don't think. I mean, you're not really a person . . . you're more like a character in a video game. You know, how they only exist when the game is on?_ I mean you only exist with your picture. When it's gone you're gone."

"But why don't you just go and try the usual evil twin plan?" suggested Ethan, "You can open the safe and take photos of us. Then you'll have duplicates for us, and you won't have to worry about a murder investigation."

Evil Malcolm considered for a second, then broke into a mocking laugh.

"Nice try, Ethan. I'd be giving you have access to the picture that created me. Besides, Mrs. Weir's camera isn't digital, it's an old school film camera. I don't have the chemicals or the time to develop the film. I don't even have a darkroom."

"You can try the bathroom" suggested Benny. "No windows?"

"And leave you three out here?" said Evil Malcolm. "And that still leaves out the chemicals . . . .which I don't have. And I'm really not into having more of my kind around. There's nothing at all I personally gain from it . . . _What's that_?"

It was a slight thud on the balcony beyond, as of someone tripping over the railings. An invisible someone tripping over the railing after having been clumsily boosted from the floor below (Ethan had warned Rory against getting a ladder, as the neighbours would already be suspicious enough with Rory aimlessly loitering around the building grounds).

"Nothing" said Benny.

"It's not as if we have someone waiting for us in the lobby, in case we don't do the job" said Sarah plainly.

It was clear to Sarah that their job now was to distract Evil Malcolm. Ethan realized what Sarah was doing to divert suspicion, and suppressed a smile.

The television set (a forty inch) was in the corner, and Evil Malcolm's recliner faced the set.

"We'll just see about that" said Evil Malcolm.

The evil twin flipped to the channel that displayed the lobby. Evil Malcolm stared angrily as the image of Rory lounging about the computerized-entry system, periodically checking his smart-phone for the time. Rory was saying something, and apparently one of Evil Malcolm's few skills was lip-reading.

"Man . . . I . . . hate . . . being . . . locked . . . out" read Evil Malcolm.

"It's from the dude's bloodsucking days" Benny explained. "We always had to invite him in our houses, and he was always forgetting to get standing-permission to go inside his own house."

"I think I'll let him in" said Evil Malcolm. "I didn't know you had backup. But I would have at least expected Erica instead of him. Still, I don't need Rory going to the police or your Grandmother Evelyn. I'll open the door."

Evil Malcolm, still with shotgun in hand, rose from his chair and moved toward the entry way and the button to unlock the door.

This set off two developments.

Rory heard the buzzer, gave a thumbs-up to the camera, and went through the inner door.

On the balcony, however, a crowbar (from the trunk of the Camaro) appeared from out of the real Malcolm's invisible jacket. Real Malcolm broke the glass above the lock and entered the room, before the Evil Malcolm left the entryway.

"Who did that!" said Evil Malcolm, who first faced Ethan, Sarah and Benny and then the open doorway in confusion.

The crowbar was presently invisible, having again been covered by Real Malcolm's invisible jacket. But now the crowbar clumsily reappeared behind Evil Malcolm. At first, Real Malcolm, very angry, was going to strike his evil twin on the head. So much so, that Ethan and Sarah were cringing as the impending blow.

Benny, to his disgust, found himself wondering if Evil Malcolm's skull would be broken open and what an evil twin's brains looked like. Benny scowled.

This was fortunate, as Evil Malcolm was distracted by the three's mere facial expressions.

In that second, the Real Malcolm determined he couldn't bring himself to strike his evil twin on the back of the head. It was so like murdering a real person he couldn't bring himself to do it! So, using the crowbar, Malcolm hit his evil twin full-force in the upper back.

The Evil Malcolm fell full force, and was knocked out.

* * *

There wasn't much to do but congratulate the real Malcolm (although Benny pointed out that Malcolm had a bad habit of "backstabbing"), and tie the hands of the unconscious fake. Also there was a brief update of Rory, who stopped mid " _Whazzzz up"_ when he saw the scene before him.

"I'd better unload this gun" said Ethan, who knew little about guns but that they shouldn't be stored loaded."

Holding the shotgun, Ethan immediately began to feel dizzy. At first Ethan thought he might be getting a vision, but he awkwardly stumbled and was only saved from falling when Sarah helped him to the sofa.

"You can't, dude" Benny said, as he walked over to see what was going on, (having just slapped Malcolm on the shoulder and promised to get him visible in "no time"). "Those are silver bullets."

"I guess I forgot" said Ethan.

"You'd better sit down" said Sarah. "It must be that silver burns you, but even holding silver bullets indirectly makes you sick."

"Sort of like vamps and the lucifractor" Rory observed. "Or _way_ better yet, _like Superman and Kryptonite_. What do we do now? Are we going to Benny's house and make Malcolm reappear?"

"No, we're going to open the safe" said Ethan. "We need to erase this guy and get back Mrs. Weir's camera."

"You'll need to call Grandma over for that" Benny said. "I can't open a safe without a combination. No magic, remember."

"Maybe I can crack it?" said Rory, stretching his fingers. "It can't be that hard?"

"This isn't the time to play let's pretend" Sarah observed sarcastically. "But . . . maybe Ethan can?"

"I'm not a seer anymore" said Ethan glumly. "At least for now."

"You said you had super-hearing" Sarah answered.

"That's right" said Ethan, sitting up again, but pausing as he let the dizziness settle. "I'll listen to the lock click.

* * *

Ethan, after another moment's rest, went on with it with the invisible Malcolm's help. Malcolm removed . . . and, giving vent to his temper, smashed . . . the picture of Stephanie. Ethan watched smirking, as he would have done the same thing. To tell the truth, Ethan felt as if he would have smashed the picture of Stephanie atop Malcolm's head.

Ethan swallowed, strained his hearing, held his ear to the safe, and listened for the tell-tale clicks as he turned the combination lock.

Rory had offered to unload the gun himself, but after a loud "NO" from everybody else, instead helped Sarah. As for Benny, he looked about the podium.

"Malcolm, the book here? Was it really big, and black with _blood red letters_?"

"Yeah" said Malcolm. "And yellowed pages. Stephanie was really protective of it."

"That's a witches spell-book" said Benny matter-of-factly. " _Very_ serious black magic, only witches have them."

"Stephanie must have taken it with her" said Sarah, who had finished unloading the shotgun as Rory read the instructions off online.

"Doesn't your grandmother have one?" said Ethan, as he un-locked the safe and covered his ears until he could return his hearing to normal. "Not that she's a witch. But she does collect spells. I mean there's serious black magic the spell book she gave you."

Ethan walked to the podium, and looked about. Sarah and Rory joined them.

"Only the kind a good spell-master needs to know about" said Benny defensively. "But you smell it?"

"Sulphur" said Sarah.

"That rotten egg smell" said Rory, disgustingly.

"Yeah, that" said Benny. "But something else."

"Blood" said Ethan, as he realized what it was he smelled. "Really stale blood."

Ethan squeezed his nostrils as he now had to block out a building of smells.

"That's a dinner bell to counterfeit zombies, vamps and werewolves alike" said Benny, dryly. "But it's from the witches' spell-book. Written in blood."

"Why?" asked Sarah.

"They're evil" said Benny bluntly. "And . . . ."

Benny was interrupted, as the Evil Malcolm vanished and left behind nothing but a pile of clothes.

"He's gone" said the real Malcolm cheerfully, as two torn-photos and an old camera floated in their direction. "Now how soon can I be visible!"

"You . . . didn't destroy both pictures?" growled Ethan, as he grabbed the pictures out of Malcolm's invisible hands. "Stephanie . . . the lunch lady's too? He did!"

"Dude, you murdered her!" Rory exclaimed.

"What do you think you were doing!" said Sarah. "I ought to . . . ."

"Well . . . It's not really that bad" said Ethan as he struggled to speak in his normal tone of voice.

Ethan looked at the ripped pictures unhappily.

"It's like Benny said. The good Stephanie didn't exist. She didn't feel a thing. It's like she was a video game character and you turned off her game."

Benny agreed. But still, he felt badly about the good Stephanie. So, he made sure to take off his sunglasses and look in the direction of Malcolm with his unblinking, dead-black eyes.

* * *

It was a depressing end to what might have been their first victory in what might be Team Sabre's toughest case. Especially as the five spent an hour ransacking the apartment, vainly searching for clues for Stephanie's whereabouts . . . or even a way to track her.

"No phone, no wallet, no nothing" said Benny, as he sprawled out on the sofa. "Just girly pink furniture."

"Is there some sort of tracking spell you can put on her things?" asked Sarah.

" _Tracking spell!_ This is real life" said Benny dismissively. "You may as well ask Ethan to use his werewolf powers to sniff her down."

"Thanks Benny" said Ethan sarcastically, giving Benny his shooting-laser-beams-of-his-eyes stare.

"Why don't you shoot invisible-laser-beams-from-your-eyes, at the invisible guy who's responsible for this" Benny muttered.

"I was Stephanie's dupe" Malcolm insisted, "Remember?"

"You act like you're proud of it" said Sarah bitingly.

"I wish Stephanie left her number" Rory complained. "When my dad goes on a business trip, he always leaves a number. He doesn't use his cell too much."

"So does mine" said Benny. "He does overseas sales so he can't even use his cell."

Ethan dropped his shooting-invisible-laser-beams from his eyes stare, as a new idea came to mind.

"Call display!" said Ethan, rushing to the land-line telephone. "Old school call display! Malcolm, you said she used her land-line. Where's the phone!"

Ethan eagerly pushed "redial" on the number. He tried to pass the phone to Malcolm, but hit him in his invisible-neck.

"Riverside Inn, Moose Factory speaking" said the woman on the other end.

"Oof, uh, Malcolm Brunner to talk to Stephanie" said Malcolm.

"She's out right now" the desk clerk replied. "Can I take a message!"

"I'll call back" said Malcolm.

And to everybody's astonishment, Malcolm announced that Stephanie had taken refuge in Moose Factory.

* * *

Looking the place up, Ethan's hopes fell. Moose Factory was isolated. Way up on James Bay, itself just the southernly arm of Hudson Bay, for hundreds of years it had been a trading fort of the _Hudson's Bay Company_. The village was on an island; the only access was via ice road or ferry from its neighbouring town, Moosonee. And Moosonee itself was only accessible by airplane or by train.

It was an ideal place for luring the group onto a false trail. And even if Stephanie was there, Ethan had a deadline. November 17th.

"It's something" Ethan said to Sarah, as he sat in the front passenger side of the Camaro, with Sarah again at the wheel. "But it's just the place Stephanie'd pick to lure us over on a wild goose chase."

"Wild moose chase?" suggested Malcolm.

"Lame, dude" said Benny. " _Really, really lame_."


	19. Team Sabre's Paranormal Expense Account

**Team Sabre's Paranormal Expense Account**

Evelyn was waiting with the de-invisibility potion prepared. But Sarah ultimately passed on watching Malcolm reappear. Instead, she waited in the Weir living room for Erica to arrive.

* * *

In the several minutes she spent getting Erica up-to-date, Sarah was surprised to see that Erica was angry about not having been on the battle.

"As your geeks would say" said Erica, "I would have been your secret weapon. Besides, I know karate. It would have gone a lot more smoothly with me."

"You're good" Sarah agreed. "But I'm ahead of you in karate school and . . . ."

"Only because Sensei likes you for being patient and composed" Erica returned.

"That's part of it" said Sarah, suppressing a smile. "But let's not go there. Really, invisible Malcolm worked out well as our secret weapon. Even as a werewolf, Ethan still has his brain-intact and he's better at plotting and setting traps than I am."

"Doesn't mean you couldn't have used me instead of . . . _Rory_."

"It's not as if there's much you could have done against a shotgun" Sarah shrugged.

"Why didn't Ethan just cut Malcolm's twin down? Did Ethan forget he's immune to lead?"

"That shotgun was loaded with 12-gauge silver shells."

"Stephanie had no actual sense of style" Erica mused. "She really over does the pink. And the shotgun? _Puh-leeez_. It should be silver bullets, not silver shells. You know, if they had been regular shells . . . I think Ethan would have changed his mind about being a werewolf. Being immune to shells might have concentrated his mind on his powers as a werewolf."

"Whatever powers Ethan has, he really, really hates it" said Sarah, then added with a smile, "He's a lot like me that way, when I was a vampire. See, Ethan likes dogs, but he hates being forced to act like one."

"I know" said Erica impatiently. "It's slow torture to him. But being a werewolf makes him acceptable boyfriend material . . . I mean, for you, and only _relatively_ speaking."

"Only you'd say something like that" observed Sarah.

"I promised the geek I'd do my best for him and for you" said Erica, with a shrug. "And I still haven't repaid Stephanie for what she's done for me, so that makes curing Ethan and Benny easier to swallow. B-T-W, where are the geeks?"

"They went down to see Malcolm turn visible again" said Sarah with a shrug. "I passed. Would you believe that they have a bet riding? Ethan thinks that Malcolm's veins will become visible first, because in _The Invisible Man_ they were the last to disappear . . . and because the potion will spread through slowly his blood. Benny guesses that he'll just slowly become more visible"

"I don't understand" said Erica.

"Neither do I" said Sarah. "But I think Benny means than Malcolm'll be transparent, and become more solid. As for Rory, he's convinced Malcolm with reappear starting with his feet and his reappearance would spread inch and inch toward his head."

"And you didn't want to see that?" said Erica sarcastically.

"In staring at Malcolm reappear?" laughed Sarah. "Besides, there's always the chance Malcolm might reappear before his clothes."

"Gross" observed Erica. "Naked Malcolm. But . . . very rich. But who needs a rich boyfriend, and a nerd at that, when you've been a vampire?"

"Seriously, you'd never date a guy just so he'd take you out on expensive dates?" asked Sarah.

"No . . . not unless he were also cute" Erica replied. "And _cool_."

* * *

Fortunately, Malcolm didn't reappear before his clothes. Instead his blue school blazer, his trousers, and leather shoes appeared first. Then his tie. Then his white shirt. Then, as Ethan predicted, Malcolm's veins reappeared. For a few moments, in fact, Mrs. Weir, her grandson and his friends were "treated" to the sight of a disembodied brain floating above a tangle of nerves and arteries and a private school uniform. It was a cringe-worthy sight, and Ethan and Rory did just that.

Sadly, the sight of a brain made Benny hungry. So Benny munched on some of the Kentucky-fried chicken heads his grandmother had put out in a bowl. He passed them to Ethan, who absent-minded chewed some. Ethan passed the chicken to Rory, who did just that . . . passed.

Soon enough, Malcolm's skull and bones reappeared. This led to him looking like a skeleton in a uniform. It was just normal-enough for Ethan, Benny and Rory to think was cool. In fact, Rory proposed a group shot, which was decisively shot-down by Mrs. Weir.

"The boy's going to have to go through this three-more-times until the poison is out of his system" said Evelyn impatiently. "You, of all people, should understand Rorster!"

"Yeah, Benny's grandma" Rory agreed meekly.

Benny took the moment to whisper to Ethan, "I can't believe how she's letting Malcolm off. Me a zombie, you a werewolf, and not even the _real thing_ but counterfeit-mutants version"

"Maybe she thinks he's suffered enough" Ethan said in kind, with a shrug.

But Evelyn wasn't finished with Malcolm by any means, and with a withering look at the teen's exposed skull (a look that put Ethan's shooting-invisible-laser-beams-from-eyes to shame), continued in an burning, acid tone:

"My late husband and I were close friends of your grandfather. Manafort Brunner was a good man who built a thriving business that at one time was this town's largest employer. More than that, he was a thoroughly decent man. He would have been very disappointed to see that you, his favourite grandson, have so thoroughly proven himself a greedy and witless idiot."

" _And burn_!" said Benny triumphantly to Ethan; but keeping in a whisper lest his grandmother overhear. "I get these talks when I'm _really_ in trouble."

"I won't say anything about your selling your grandfather's prize possessions for pocket change, as Benny has the same ideas there" said Mrs. Weir, who gave a swift glance at Benny that removed the smirk from his face. "But there's your stupidity in letting a pretty girl cast the darkest of spells on you . . . and what's worse to me, my grandson and Ethan. Stephanie was desperate to get a blissfully-ignorant _idiot_ to do this work. Had she tried this herself, it would have failed. Good is stronger than evil, and I can tell you Ethan would have felt _this particular_ evil scheme the moment Stephanie set foot in the same room."

"I thought . . . ." Malcolm volunteered.

By this time his subcutaneous tissue had reappeared, making him look like a red-eyed, red-fleshed alien.

"There's also tampering with our bingo" Evelyn Weir added as an afterthought.

"And that's unforgivable?" suggested Benny.

"Benny, dear, it's wrong in and of itself" said Evelyn, as she picked up a hand-mirror. "But it pales to the you being turned into a counterfeit zombie or Ethan being a werewolf. The question is Malcolm, what are you going to do to make up for what you've done?"

"I'll do anything to set things right" promised Malcolm, who to his satisfaction saw himself once again in the flesh. "I swear it."

Ethan wondered if this meant Malcolm would be a member of Team Sabre. Honestly, given Malcolm had almost _killed himself_ with his plotting, Ethan was . . . for the time being . . . letting his actions go. But Ethan wasn't really interested in working with Malcolm, or having Malcolm accompany them up north to Moose Factory.

But that wasn't Evelyn Weir's intention.

"You'll have to stay around here, Malcolm" said Evelyn, "especially Tuesdays as we need to go through this thrice more. Since you'll be here, I suppose you can help me around the house and do Benny's chores."

"I can" Malcolm volunteered, although none too eagerly at that.

"You had better visit after school everyday for the next few weeks" Evelyn continued. "I can keep an eye on you and you're sure to be a help to me. I've been meaning to clean and scrub the house from top to bottom but this has placed a damper in my plans."

"If that's really what you want" said Malcolm, "maybe I can hire someone to clean your house?"

"Hire someone he says!" Benny whispered to Ethan and Rory. "Like Grandma will let him get away so easily"

"No dear, I meant you" said Evelyn sternly. "But I'm happy to hear you don't mind parting with your money to make up for what you've done. Because a trip through Northern Ontario for five teenagers, Team Sabre and Erica, is expensive. Do you have any ideas if car or plane would be best?"

"Car" said Malcolm hurriedly. "Definitely car."

"I think it'll be best by car" Ethan now volunteered. "I've been thinking that Stephanie might leave Moose Factory before we get there. We might have to drive around chasing after her."

"And then will be the hard part" Benny observed. "Defeating her."

"You're right" agreed Evelyn. "But what car would you like to take, Ethan? Malcolm's Challenger or his Camaro."

"Challenger's the coolest" said Rory. "You can't beat that grill or that hood."

"Are you crazy?" said Benny. "The Camaro's way more awesome."

"What about your Ford Mrs. Weir?" Malcolm interjected.

"No, it's best if it's one of your cars, Malcolm" Evelyn said. "I don't want my car scratched in the winter weather."

"If there'll be five of us" said Ethan practically. "We'd better take the Challenger."

"SHOTGUN!" called Rory. "No, wait, I have a license . . . DRIVER!"

"You have a G1 license" Evelyn observed, to a notable sigh of relief from Malcolm. "Neither you or Benny can legally drive without a driver licenced beside you. I don't want you to drive unless you really need to. Even fighting evil, normal driving rules apply."

Rory looked crestfallen.

"And you can't call shotgun until you see the car" Benny reminded Rory bitterly, as he was also under his grandmother's driving injunction.

"And of course you'll need spending money for train fare, hotels and food" Evelyn mused. "I believe Malcolm has ten thousand dollars available of his own money . . . ."

"Ten thousand dollars!" said Malcolm, getting up and nearly dropping the mirror. "You want me to give up _ten thousand dollars_?"

"Holy crap!" said Benny, also jumping up. "Ten thousand dollars you're giving us!"

"Whoa!" said Rory, who also stood up. "We get ten thousand dollars?

"I'd sooner be human" said Ethan, who had been surprised but unimpressed. It probably wasn't all that much to Malcolm these days. And the bottom line was, $10,000 or not, he was still a werewolf.

"Now, I don't mean Malcolm should give you ten thousands dollars outright. He'll lend it to you, and you'll take what you need for your expenses. When it's all over, you'll return the rest of his money."

"Who'll be keeping track of the expenses?" said Malcolm. "It _better_ be Sarah."

"Why?" Benny asked. "We're all Mathletes here."

"Then the expenses better be itemized and the receipts kept" Malcolm whined.

"We're going on an _epic road trip_ to cure Ethan and Benny and punish Stephanie" Rory retorted, "and we have to do accounting? _Bor-ing_!"

"I'll do it" said Ethan, with a shrug. "If Sarah won't. We can always agree on expenses as a group."

"Just so long as it's not Erica calling the shots" Malcolm muttered, as he was vaguely aware of her attitude.

"I think you should tell Sarah right now" advised Evelyn. "If she's a member of your team, you shouldn't have a meeting without her. When you're finished, I'd like to see you back here."

"I hope Sarah's not disappointed about being left out" Ethan said, in concern. "Our talk just sort of happened as Malcolm reappeared."

"And I was being lectured" Malcolm muttered. "And relieved of my car and ten thousand dollars."

"I want to see how they take the news" said Rory as he went through the door. "Dodge Challenger and a $10,000 expense account."

* * *

Benny had delayed a couple minutes to grab another few fried chicken-heads; when Benny was about to follow Rory, Ethan and Malcolm through the door, he felt the familiar grip of his grandmother's thumb on his left earlobe.

Evelyn waved her free hand, and magically turned the door's lock.

"Watch it, Grandma' Benny complained. "Now that I'm a zombie, my ear might just come off."

"You're not that type of zombie, Benny" Evelyn said, but was heartened as she saw Benny's familiar grin. "I need to tell my once and future spell-master certain things before we join your friends."

"What's that?" asked Benny.

"First, I need you to distribute these letters to your friends" said Erica, as she opened a drawer. "These letters have a spell similar to the one that Stern used on me. Similar, but not really the same. It will hypnotise Ethan, Rory, and Sarah's parents . . . and Erica's mother . . . into allowing you to go onto this trip, no matter how long it takes."

"Awesome" said Benny, appreciatively.

If Benny had his eyes, whites and pupils, then, they would have bourne a mischievous-look . But his grandmother knew her grandson's thoughts enough by the beaming face.

"We're only doing this because there's no better way" Evelyn told him. "I don't think I need to tell you what would happen to you if you ever tried it yourself."

"I was just _thinking_ about it" Benny objected.

"Don't" said Evelyn sternly.

"This is sort-of-cool" Benny said, as he thumbed through the carefully addressed envelopes. "They have similar mind-control objects in the comics. You what else this is like? When Q gives James Bond the latest gadgets for his mission. I guess you're W-division instead of Q division?"

Benny laughed to himself, but felt a little awkward as his grandmother did little more than give a tolerant smile.

"I won't be giving you any more gadgets rights now" said Evelyn. "Not until the rest of Team Sabre . . . and Erica . . . ."

"And Malcolm" reminded Benny.

"And Malcolm return" said Evelyn. "I just want to remind you that this may be the most serious fight you've ever had, given what Stephanie did to you. And what she did to herself. But, right now, I need to tell you two things before your friends come back. About Ethan."

Benny looked at his grandmother.

"Stephanie's hid in about the worst-place imaginable for Ethan" said Evelyn in a stern-tone.

"A . . . silver-mine?" guessed Benny.

"Most wolves in Canada are up north" said Evelyn. "In the forest, among the rocks and swamps of the Canadian shield. Where you're going, psychically the curse on Ethan will be strongest. He's already had enough trouble keeping mind and soul together, this will make things worse. Especially as the full moon approaches."

"This is going the dude crazy" Benny said. "You don't want him to know, do you?"

"No dear, I don't want to worry him" said Evelyn. "Knowing makes it worse. There's one other thing I need to tell you."

Evelyn reached into the same drawer as before and pulled out a copy of _The Ye Olde Canadian Farmer's Almanac For Country Folks and City Slickers_. Benny recognized it with a look of annoyance, as he found it lame and "ye olde school" (as he liked to joke). He knew that his grandmother used if for gardening advice.

Benny looked at the page that Evelyn opened for him. Its import struck him instantly. Benny, after all, may not have been able to find Switzerland on a map . . . but he was extremely good understanding numbers.

"I can't believe we never thought of that" said Benny, as Evelyn explained the problem.

"Don't tell Ethan, dear" she warned him.

"I won't" said Benny. "But we'll probably have to take the tow-chain and padlock after all.


	20. The Soul Idea

**The Soul Idea**

A few minutes later, all six teens were seating in the Weir living room waiting for Evelyn to begin. Malcolm had mainly stayed to use Benny' laptop to transfer his money to Ethan (now Team Sabre's official bookkeeper, as both Sarah and Erica demurred).

Malcolm was also interested to know what exactly the witch was doing, as someone who was both her stooge and nearly her victim. He also had to know when to deliver his car over, perhaps never to see it again. Evelyn's words (and punishment) stung, but even Malcolm had to admit he had been very stupid.

By this time, the other five had _almost_ agreed on what time to leave. Ethan had been all for leaving right away, anxious and forgetting that the driver, at least, should get some sleep before going on the road. Rory also wanted to leave right away, thinking an all-night drive was cool. Benny was tired, as he had been since being a zombie. But since he wasn't driving he didn't care about sleeping in the car. He did, however, want to talk to Della before he left. As for Erica, she wanted to wait until 10:00am the following morning as she hated waking up early and didn't want to sleep in the same car as three geeks.

"Haven't we forgotten something?" Sarah said, who had studied on the place they were visiting. "We can't even drive all the way. We'll have to take the train from Cochrane to Moosonee. And then drive across the river ice road, or take a ferry to Moose Factory."

"The _Polar Bear Express_ leaves Cochrane at 9:00 am and arrives at Moosonee at 2:00pm" said Ethan, with a growl as he looked it up on the computer. "It's 8:00 pm now. Which means we'll have to wait until Thursday's train. So we fly . . . or we'd fly if the airport was open. Frack! It's been closed all week for emergency repairs."

"Emergency runway repairs? No way! A sinkhole?" said Benny, who looked up the Moosonee Airport on his own smart-phone.

"Does she know we're on the way?" Sarah wondered. "Or is this another of her tricks to protect herself?"

"We can look up helicopter rentals" Ethan suggested, and tried just that with Malcolm looking over his shoulder.

The two of them suffered "acute sticker shock" when they saw how much a long-distance helicopter trip would cost.

"No you can't" Malcolm said angrily. "I don't have enough money."

"If she goes on the run we'll burn through your ten thousand dollars anyway" Sarah reminded Malcolm. "But I can't believe how prepared she is this time. The double, the evil twin, even the airport."

"It's like she has a plan in a plan in a plan" Rory complained.

"Very Machiavellian" said Erica tersely, and quietly smiled to herself as she observed nobody but Sarah knew what the term meant. "But I'll all for taking the train. Some beauty sleep, and we leave at a proper time and stay in a first-class hotel."

"How first class?" Malcolm challenged.

"Don't be so cheap" Erica said dismissively. "I know how much auto insurance costs alone for a 16-year-old guy."

"I don't get it" said Ethan.

"Yeah, the auto insurance rates are _really_ unfair" said Rory. "And you know what pilot's insurance is like? My dad says when I take flying lessons I'll have to . . . ."

"Not insurance" said Ethan, "but Stephanie's schemes. Why is she so ultra-prepared?"

"Because she knows the competition and she's afraid" said Benny, stretching out.

"No, dear" said Evelyn, as she walked into the room carrying an small blue trunk, of the type they used to pack on ships. "Stephanie has everything to lose this time. So she has to be very careful."

Mrs. Weir usually liked having Team Sabre discover things on their own terms. She was proud of their ability to fight evil with relatively little guidance. She was, of course, overjoyed at their complete victory late the last spring over Stern and the vampires both.

But this emergency meant she had dispensed with her usual policy.

At any rate, once the teens left town, they'd be very much without her help. And it was a life or death fight. Or worse.

"I only realized what Stephanie had done when I learned about her good double" Evelyn said. "I never suspected this for a moment. Like you, I thought . . . I hoped . . . Stephanie had reformed. You do try to do that with someone you went to school with and knew most of your life."

Ethan avoided looking at Erica, while Sarah simply considered the question musingly. Benny curiously looked to see what Erica would say, his black eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. Malcolm looked sheepish, thinking the statement was directed at _him_. As for Rory, he nodded sincerely, as he also thought Evelyn was talking about _him_ and how Ethan and Benny had gotten through to him post-Lucifractor.

As for Erica, she realized the equivalence. But she didn't think about it, as she decided her smartphone needed _immediate_ attention instead.

"I thought the double was good because the original was evil?" suggested Sarah.

"Not exactly" said Mrs. Weir curtly. "It relies on the soul. Stephanie's double was good, because the original had sold her soul. A soulless double is evil. A double of a soulless person is good. When you began their fight against the evil forces that infested this town, and I volunteered to help, Sarah you, Benny, Ethan and Jane asked if I were a witch. Innocently, of course, but you very wrong about that., accusing me . . . of all people, dear . . . of being a witch. A spellmaster or earth priestess is never a witch, as _we_ naturally derive our power . . . ."

"With great power comes great responsibility" Benny interrupted.

"But a witch" said Evelyn, boxing Benny's ears as she considered what she had to say very important, "A witch deals in evil. She gets her power and her very magic book from demons or even the devil himself . . . _and binds her allegiance to the forces of darkness and the powers of evil in a contract signed with her own blood_.

There was a brief silence.

"You can't be serious" said Erica dismissively.

"I thought without a soul, your body goes limp as if you were dead" said Sarah. "That's what happened in the gymnasium when she set-up her spell."

"Normally that's what happens, dear" said Evelyn. "But more specifically, Stephanie's soul is deeply cursed. It's the property of dark forces, it probably only _resides_ in her body, it's no longer truly hers."

"That first time" said Ethan hesitantly, "she was after souls. Every soul in the school."

"For _her_ master" said Evelyn coldly. "Not only for her personal revenge, but in service to the powers of evil."

"Then when we spoke to Jesse through the spirit-speaker" Ethan continued, "he went on about how he would never be a witch because he was his own man."

"Willingly turning yourself into a vampire, or selling your soul, it amounts to the same thing" said Evelyn coldly. "Jesse was just too vain to see that."

"And my evil twin" volunteered Malcolm, "I heard he complained about having no soul to barter."

"Which, in his case, meant no path to being cursed as a vamp or a witch" said Benny. " _Or would it be wizard_?"

"Male witches are, or at least they were, usually called warlocks" said Evelyn.

"But there's one thing I don't get" said Sarah. "If Stephanie's evil enough to go in league with dark force . . . maybe even the devil incarnate . . . how can she do it twice? Won't he have already taken her soul anyways? Just through her evil, or her first contract. You only have one soul?"

"That is where I have to guess, Sarah" said Evelyn, sitting down. "I can only tell you what I did. By hexing Stephanie's powers the last time we faced her, I believe . . . I was told many years ago by my own grandmother . . . I gave her a chance to make amends for what she did and reclaim her soul. But that's properly a question for religion and isn't for me to answer. _What I can tell you_ with certainty, is that you've helped destroy all the supernatural evils that plagued this town from the start. Stephanie was biding her time and hoping for a chance to take her revenge. She was able to make a deal to regain her powers . . . where she volunteered to put curses on Benny and Ethan as payback for reclaiming Whitechapel. Those curses were made all the painful and barbed by trying to make them suffer a fate they escaped from, the first time, within hours or days of being cursed. What else Stephanie promised to do, I can't say. I suspect when she ultimately fails, then she'll straightaway die and the devil will get her soul. I _overestimated_ her; I just didn't realize how much she wanted her revenge."

"Does that mean?" asked Rory incredulously, "we're going to . . . we're going to . . . have to, you know, fight Mephisto, or Count Iblis?"

"Who are they?" asked Erica. "Other witches? Or are they warlocks?"

" _Mephisto_ is the devil in _Marvel_ Comic Books" Ethan explained. "Count Iblis is the devil in the original _Battlestar Galactica_."

"There's nothing so ridiculous like that in _Dusk_ " Erica observed contemptuously.

"Just friendly, sparkling vampires" Benny remarked. "And werewolf auto mechanics."

"Dogs like to chase cars" said Erica. "I bet Ethan . . . ."

"This is real life" said Evelyn, putting a stop to the conversation. "And to answer you, Rory, fortunately not. Just a committed follower in Stephanie."

"Why didn't she turn Sarah and me into vampires again?" Erica now chimed in, the thought coming to her.

"Because in Whitechapel she can't, dear" said Evelyn, and her voice was again like ice. "Even if Stephanie could, she would be creating more powerful enemies for. And ultimately, if Stephanie did, _at least in Sarah and Rory_ she would be creating good vampires. And good vampires are an anomaly that can't last, an outrage against the forces of good that will eventually rebound on the that of the powers of evil. _But your friends already know all about it, so we won't discuss it right now._ "

"But how are we going to defeat a witch who can curse us, just like that?" asked Ethan.

"Witches are, at least in body, still human. You can't physically destroy them with holy object as you do vampires. But their powers are unhallowed. Even their spells are typically learned from a witch's spellbook, written in blood and destined to spontaneously combust . . . ."

"Huh?" asked Rory.

"Burn" Ethan replied. "Like a vampire does when they're staked.

"You'll need to take something to remove her powers" Evelyn concluded. "I have a small barrel of holy water here. If you get Stephanie wet, she will be powerless. I would go myself and try, but Stephanie would realize I'm coming. I do have this file for the computer. Don't be surprised, an old lady can learn how to use a computer. I used Benny's ideas for recording spells for later use."

Evelyn handed a flash drive to Ethan. Ethan loaded it onto Benny's laptop, Benny going to Ethan's side.

* * *

There were four spells on the drive.

"You should have had me help you" Benny told his grandmother. "You could have had way better resolution"

"These will be good enough" said Evelyn. "Thanks dear."

The first of the three files was Benny's old spell, the one he had sent Ethan over a year before to knock out another evil Benny. It was to be used on Stephanie after she was incapacitated, to buy them some more time.

The second was Evelyn saying a spell. On Team Sabre, it was harmless enough. But, for Stephanie, it would be the end of her powers.

"Will that return Ethan to normal?" asked Sarah intently, colouring a little as she realized she excluded Benny. "I mean, Benny and Ethan both, of course?"

"She's really into you bro!" Benny whispered to Ethan.

The third and fourth spells were what would cure Benny and Ethan, but only after Stephanie lost her powers. Again, Evelyn was on video doing the spells. Ethan recognized the third spell as the spell that Benny had used on him to try to cure him of being a werewolf . . . the first time. As for the fourth spell, it wasn't played. But Ethan presumed it was the "normal" de-zombifying spell.

"Grandma already tried it on me" Benny explained casually. "Until Stephanie loses her power, it can't cure me. It just makes me puke."

* * *

There wasn't much more to say or do. The spells were sent to everybody's email addresses, even Erica's. The bewitched letters were also handed out; Evelyn was pleased to notice that everybody but Erica looked uneasy over casting a spell on their parents. Malcolm, who wasn't involved in this aspect of the scheme, looked incredulous.

"You're sure you're the good guys?" he observed sarcastically.

"You've met at least one member of our rogue's gallery" Benny returned. "We're definitely the good guys."

Team Sabre plus Erica agreed to meet again at 6:30 the following morning; Erica without complaints. Malcolm agreed to drop off the Challenger, with a full tank of gas.

"It's an SRT. Don't give it anything less than 91 octanes" he said to Ethan as they left, "even though up north it'll cost an arm and a leg. I'd like it back. And there's another thing, it's sort of awkward"

"What?" asked Ethan.

Malcolm looked around to see if anyone was listening.

"If you turn into a werewolf, don't go near it. And don't chain yourself to it or lock yourself inside. You don't want to scratch the paint-job or tear up the leather upholstery."

Ethan turned away, bottling up what he wanted to say as he knew it would come out as a growl given he could now _feel_ the burning yellow in his eyes.

Ethan's anger vanished as, strange to say, Erica volunteered to be driven home with Malcolm and Rory. Sarah offered to walk home with Ethan.

* * *

Evelyn stayed up long after Benny. She carried a locked, dusty cashbox from her special room. Back in the living room, She removed everything from the blue trunk, and unlocked the cash-box.

In it was the _cubile animus_ , the box of souls. It had fallen into her possession; but only after Ethan made clear to Benny he didn't want it hidden in his closet; and after Evelyn had spent a night caring for Ethan when Sarah had saved him from Jesse's venomous bite.

Evelyn had dispatched the demon that had been caught in it; and the box was now safe to use.

"They might need it" said Mrs. Weir, looking at it with some misgivings. "But not until the end. It'll be up to them if they think they should use it."

Evelyn packed it deep at the bottom of the trunk, beneath Benny's spell book, a few water pistols, a carefully-wrapped case of holy water, a compass, a road atlas, and a few signal flares.


	21. Taking Leave

**Taking Leave**

With misgivings, Ethan handed his mother the envelope with the bewitched letter. Samantha Morgan opened the envelope (which wasn't sealed), and began to read.

Inwardly, Ethan cringed as Samantha Morgan's face stiffened and her eyes seemed to glaze.

"That's a great idea for a school trip" his mother said in a monotone. "A road trip. I'm sure you'll be able to keep up on your other homework."

Ethan gave a forced grin, and laughed nervously.

"I sure will, Mom. Uh . . . don't you have any questions?"

"No" she said. "I'm not interested."

Ethan looked at his mother astonished, as she returned the note.

"Okay, Mom."

Samantha's face returned to normal.

"I hope you haven't eaten yet" she said. "I making some grilled zucchini burgers for a late supper. You know, Ethan, I really think you've been eating too much red-meat lately."

"I do too, Mom" said Ethan truthfully. "I'll eat the zucchini burgers."

Ethan went into the living room and passed the note to his father. Again, there was the same reaction on Ross's face. And no questions! Evelyn was thorough, even if Ethan could barely handle the robotic expressions on his parents' faces.

* * *

Ethan had needed to lie to his parents several times over last couple of years (and other times Ethan, being a good son but not perfect, had tried to get away with normal teenage things) - but this spell went over a line he didn't want to cross. Even if it was the only way he'd be able to get away from home . . . short of running away.

And even though (with Rory's birthday at the end of August) they were all at least 16, and they were close enough to adulthood not to merit much media attention if they ran away on their own . . . _five_ teenagers running away together would be a story, _even in Whitechapel_.

Walking upstairs, Ethan considered how forced his parents were in their expressions. Ethan's mind wandered. He had seen a lot of supernatural hypnosis over the last couple of years. Stephanie had used the very power on Sarah and Erica! It was something to worry about . . . .

Then there had been, of course, Stern and his spell on Benny. Vampire "glamouring", with Anastasia having been the most talented _there_. Then there was the gremlin king, and his deadly suggestions to Ethan's sub-conscious; taking advantage of Ethan's long and silent irritation with Erica's attitude and misdeeds.

"Vampire restaurant" thought Ethan bemused, as he looked around his room considering what he would take on his trip. "I don't think I'll ever forget that. I wonder what a werewolf restaurant would be like? Probably a lot of raw meat. But a committed werewolf is into eating people. So they'd want human victims.

That was one way to go from bemused to disgusted!

* * *

Ethan decided to take a backpack instead of looking for a suitcase (backpacks were cooler, Sarah would think so!), and lacked the usual clothes. On top of that, he put together a coat, gloves, toque (the word toque, in Canada, meant a wool winter hat). On top of that, Ethan "borrowed" a power inverter, that would convert the electrical current in the car's cigarette lighter to normal 110 AC current. A long trip and a guy's laptop would rundown!

Benny was taking a mobile cooler, packing a few weeks of brain-sausage and chicken heads for him - and pop for everybody else.

Ethan looked under his bed at his scabbard and the UV light-sabre with the retractable blade. He knew that it was useless against a witch. So, reluctantly, he left it.

* * *

Ethan was about to close and pack his laptop (he had to do something fun to do in the car), when Benny startled him by appearing in a video chat. Benny had taken off his sunglasses, but quickly put them on again (with an annoyed look) as Ethan recoiled from the pupil-less eyes.

"Are you taking your light sabre?" asked Benny.

"No" said Ethan. "It's not as if it's any good against a witch."

"What kind of a Jedi are you, Ethan?" challenged Benny. "You've got to take your light sabre in a battle like this. I get it, young Padawan . . . you're feeling unworthy because you're a werewolf."

"That wasn't it" said Ethan. "Besides, you don't even have to be human to be a Jedi."

"Exactly" said Benny upbeat. "Tomorrow, Ethan. I'm stopping at Della's to say goodbyeRoad trip, hot girls, do or die battle with a witch. How cool is that?"

"All but the do or die battle" said Ethan dryly. "Seriously, when we find her we need to give serious . . . ."

"What did you do with Mom and Dad?" Jane interrupted, walking into Ethan's room.

"What do you mean?" asked Ethan, his voice breaking. "What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing" said Jane. "Until I ask where you're going. Then they're all quiet, and saying you're going on a field trip."

"Good luck explaining why you put a spell on your parents, pal" said Benny gleefully.

"Because _we_ thought" Ethan started, looking a Benny over the webcam. But Benny picture was gone, and the popup window had closed. "Benny!

"You're not the one eating brains" Benny couldn't help but say, as the audio feed was still running.

"See you tomorrow, Benny" said Ethan, in a near-growl, as he cut the connection. "But Jane, If I want to get cured, I have to get the witch who did this to me."

Ethan told her, as briefly as possible, that Stephanie was the witch responsible and he needed to go up North to stop her. He left out the part about Stephanie selling her soul, and minimized the extreme danger Team Sabre was about to face. Ethan was also careful to emphasize (or rather, lie about) the fact they had _easily_ defeated Stephanie before.

"Is it worth it?" asked Jane. "I mean, why can't you let it drop. Maybe you growl once in a while, but you're still the same. I mean you're not a vampire? You're still you."

"Until the full moon" said Ethan darkly, deciding to leave out the part that, like David Stochowski, even when he turned back he'd be stuck looking very wolfish. "I'll have to be tied up" Ethan continued, in what he considered a brotherly tone. "But you know, this is probably the first time you've really been worried about me. Don't be. Our whole team will be there. It'll be the same as fighting something in Whitechapel . . . just . . . almost a thousand miles away."

"There's only one full moon a month" Jane said.

"If I live to be 100, that'll be 2 to the power of 10 times."

"That's a stupid way to look it."

"Well, that's Rory for you.

Rory took this moment to appear on Ethan's laptop.

"Whazzzzzzzzzzzz up?" he said.

"Yeah, whazzzz up" Ethan returned, with something of a smirk at Rory's timing.

"Hey Rory" Jane.

"Does she know?" asked Rory.

"She knows, but she's not staying" Ethan joked.

Ethan didn't want Rory to spill too much information, as he certainly would.

"You think you can get rid of me that easily?" Jane challenged him.

Normally, Jane wouldn't let that slide. But looking at Ethan, she was still filled with sympathy. Her brother didn't deserve to be a werewolf. And she knew enough that Ethan, whatever pranks or battles he went into with his friends, wouldn't go so far as to put a spell on his parents unless he was _very_ desperate.

"You have to hug me goodbye. I don't get up until seven in the morning."

Rory gave a thumbs-up, as he looked away so his buddy wouldn't be humiliated.

* * *

Rory had also been disturbed by his parents' reactions to the spells, and he, of course, had spent nearly two years lying to them about a large number of things. It wasn't easy to keep being a vampire under wraps. Especially in those last nine months, when the vampire council started ordering him about. Those bloodsuckers didn't really understand you couldn't really do whatever you wanted, when you wanted, when you were a fifteen-year-old, Grade 10 guy living at home with your parents! Un-dead or not!

Even when Rory was cured, he nearly let the secret out, when he printed a four or five dozen new pictures of himself. His parents wondered how he had suddenly recovered his "camera shyness" and at the same time become a die-hard garlic-fan.

Unlike Ethan, though, Rory had felt better after confessing the whole story about the enchanted letter . . . to Krypto. Krypto didn't really sit in judgement, though. The pup, breaking with his normal practice of sleeping under Rory's bed, sensing he'd be left alone for awhile, went on the mattress to lie at the foot.

* * *

"I say we play _Raiders of the Galaxy_ " Rory suggested. "I mean, if you're not driving."

"With Erica" said Ethan realistically. "I think it'll be a while get behind the wheel. Yeah, _Raiders_ will be okay."

"I'll contact Benny" Rory volunteered. "By the way, I've got _fireworks_ leftover from Canada Day. _You know my dad_ . . . he'll sort of afraid I"ll burn down the house."

"What do we need fireworks for?" asked Ethan.

"You want to celebrate being cured" said Rory. "Besides, up north . . . less light pollution. They'll show up way better."

Ethan looked at Rory exasperated, but quickly reconsidered. It couldn't hurt, could it?

"They're wrapped?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah" said Rory.

"Okay."

"You're not wearing that T-shirt, are you?" Rory asked.

"No, why" Ethan replied.

" _Vampire Sasquatch_ 's human friend wears a checkered jacket and jeans" Rory explained. "You know, crash-happy Jim, the friendly float-plane pilot."

And, in fact, Rory was outfitted like a old-school bush pilot in checkered jacked and jeans.

"Yeah, if we're going up north, we have to look the part" Ethan agreed, leaving unsaid the fact _that Ethan sincerely thought that Sarah thought he looked cool in his various costumes_.

* * *

As for Sarah herself, she also contacted Ethan by webcam before he went to bed. While Ethan was wrong about Sarah's being impressed by his costumes, Ethan did correctly read in Sarah's expression that she too had been unnerved by putting a spell on her parents.

"Ready?" asked Sarah.

"Ready!" said Ethan.

The two of them ripped up their copies of the bewitched letter.

"I never want to have to use that again" said Ethan.

"Me neither. Now I think I'll be able sleep tonight" observed Sarah wryly. "Between driving, Erica, and your geek posse, I don't think I'll rest much tomorrow."

* * *

Finally, at 6:30 the following morning, everyone gathered at Benny's house. Malcolm had arrived first, just after six, with a drawn face as if he was going to lose his closest friend. _The Dodge Challenger SRT_. But Malcolm was more magnanimous about it now.

And he didn't mind when Evelyn Weir said a few words, a spell she explained, that would ensure the car would never get stuck in mud or snow. . . never get stuck. It could go through as if it were a Hummer. Even better.

"That's something" Malcolm said, who couldn't help but think how valuable that made his car. "I guess you'll be taking it off if they ever get it back."

"Yes, Malcolm, when they get it back" said Evelyn. "You won't need it."

* * *

Ethan arrived second, after Malcolm.

"I . . . owe . . . you . . . Ethan" Malcolm said. "I really owe you . .. _buddy?_ "

"You're paying for it" Ethan shrugged, a little embarrassed, as he put his backpack in the trunk alongside Benny's and the small chest Evelyn had stored. His

"I thought about it" Malcolm said. "Forget about the upholstery and the paint job. I can afford it."

"Uh, thanks" said Ethan, who found Malcolm's profuse apology to be even more awkward than Malcolm's combo of greed, regret and bad temper the day before.

* * *

Next to appear was Rory, who carried a backpack and duffel bag.

"That's awesome" said Rory. "How fast can that baby go?"

"Max speed 170 miles per hour or 275 kilometres per hour" Malcolm said by rote.

Ethan whistled.

"But you won't, will you?" Evelyn reminded the three forcefully.

"My honour as a Jedi, Benny's Grandma" said Rory earnestly, as he too had a scabbard with a retractable light-sabre. "But I'm forgetting something . . . yeah . . . SHOTGUN!"

* * *

Evelyn went inside for a few moments to get Benny's things, so she missed Benny walking up to the car. Or, rather, he swaggered. It was his own house, but he had made sure to say goodbye to the ever-emotional Della. Benny consciously had a red imprint on his cheek, as if Della had worn lipstick and kissed him.

"Best . . . goodbye . . . ever!" he muttered to Ethan.

"So" started Benny, "I'm guessing it's me riding shotgun, and the Ethanator driving."

"Nuh-uh" said Rory. "I called shotgun."

"I called shotgun when I stepped out this morning" said Benny.

"Doesn't count if nobody's around to hear it" Malcolm reminded him.

"Stay out it, invisible teen" Benny returned. "Since Ethan's driving first, only his best friend should get to ride shotgun."

"But . . . wait" said Rory, considering. He grinned. "Then I can sit between Sarah and Erica. I'm . . . okay with that."

"If I know Erica" Ethan put in, "She's going to want to drive. And I'm in no shape to argue with her right now. I really can't lost my temper."

"You should keep that thought" said Benny quietly, putting his hands in his pockets. "But she's not going to want to drive. I know girls. They hate driving long distances."

"Since when do you know girls?" asked Rory innocently.

"Since I was twelve" Benny returned.

"You think you've known girls since you were twelve" Ethan replied, with a grin.

Benny was interrupted by the return of his grandmother with Benny's backpack, a small blue suitcase, and the mobile freezer. Evelyn, like most grandmothers, didn't believe in packing lightly.

"First get this working boys, and then I'll get Benny's snacks" she said. "They need to stay cool, or else they'll spoil."

The next couple minutes were spent loading; packing away the light sabres and scabbards, safely putting away the fireworks, plugging in the freezer and the power inverter, putting the freezer on the floor in back and programming the dashboard GPS to Cochrane, Ontario.

* * *

By this time, Sarah had shown up (she chose her gym bag for her things) and to make Ethan's morning, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Like a pro, Ethan put his arm around her as they went to greet Evelyn.

But Sarah stopped in her tracks, and began to laugh.

"I didn't notice when it was just Ethan . . . but what are you three made out for?"

"Northern Ontario" said Ethan, a little hurt. "Northen pilot checkered flannel jacket and jeans."

"Just like on _Vampire Sasquatch_ " Rory added. "You know, ol' VS's pal, crash-happy Jim. He gave _Valorous Sasquatch_ a party when he was cured in the last episode. Jim wasn't cured, but VS was cured of being a bloodsucker. He went to the Magical Mystical Shaman of Headless Valley. . . ."

"Just so you know" interrupted Benny, "only Rory's the _Vampire Sasquatch_ fan."

"Guys wear these clothes on all the shows in the north" Ethan added forcefully.

"O.K." said Sarah, amused, as she packed away her gym bag. "But what are the fireworks for?"

* * *

By the time Ethan had explained, a bit red-faced, Erica showed up. She had a suitcase on wheels, and (Sarah felt) deserved credit for somehow pulling it along on the sidewalk without looking like a nerd.

Naturally, Erica hugged her BFF hello. She was polite to Evelyn, as Erica felt she had been skating on thin-ice with her the night before. Malcolm, she referred to as the "Invisible Geek". And Erica burst into laughter at the sight of Ethan, Benny and Rory's checkered jackets and jeans.

"If it isn't the lumber jerks" she said.

Rory looked disappointed, but Benny shrugged it off.

Evelyn had gone inside the house to get the sausages and chicken heads.

* * *

"I guess I'll go to the driver's seat" said Erica, "and wait there for Evelyn."

"You're really driving first?" asked Malcolm, with a sinking voice.

"You need someone whose not afraid of the traffic" said Erica. "You're okay, Sarah, but you're a little too nice on the road. But we'll have a good time in the front."

"I'm sitting shotgun" said Benny.

"And have someone think that I'm dating you" Erica scoffed. "Dream on."

With that, Erica opened the door and adjusted the driver's seat.

Malcolm gaped at Erica, then at Ethan who had shut his eyes.

"Want my shades?" Rory asked Ethan. "They're the best thing for yellow vamp . . . I mean werewolf eyes. Or black zombie eyes too."

"There's more room for our laptops in the back anyways" Ethan said, as he gratefully took the glasses. "Who's taking the middle?"

* * *

Rock, paper, scissors meant Benny had his legs cramped behind the driver (which Erica moved back to give herself more room). Rory had the seat behind Sarah (Sarah gave herself the minimum room she needed to be comfortable), sharing his foot space with the freezer. Ethan had the uncomfortable middle seat. There were, at least, no cup-holders in the floor. However, there were a lot of cords and Ethan was seated atop the hunch for the rear-drive transmission.

Ethan could have claimed that it was the worst place to put a counterfeit werewolf, but he was too much self-respect for that.

* * *

Evelyn returned with butcher paper while Malcolm contributed a cardboard box of root beer. Rory stepped out of the car to help pack the freezer, reentering once he slammed it shut.

Then Team Sabre plus Erica were ready to go on the road. Erica started the car . . . .

"Oof" said Erica as she bodily hit the steering wheel.

"You don't need so much room, dear" said Evelyn sternly, as she had magically made the front seat slide forward. "Remember Benny's tall, and he's sitting behind you. Good luck kids! And remember, good is stronger than evil!"

Malcolm waved solemnly goodbye, wondering guiltily if he'd ever see them . . . or, his car . . . again.


	22. The Road Trip

**The Road Trip**

Moosonee and Moose Factory weren't that far north by Canadian standards. In fact, the communities were at the same latitude of Calgary. However, being near James Bay, the southerly extension of Hudson Bay, the settlements were cold and the forest stunted. Being in a wilderness of rock and swamp, and only accessible by rail or air, made it seem a far more remote area than it really was.

But to get to Moose Factory, they had first to drive to Cochrane.

Ethan, jostled between Benny and Rory in the middle of the back seat, regretted Erica coming along before they even left town. How awesome would it be, even now, if Ethan had been seated up front with Sarah? How cool a time they could have had as they went up north? How he could have taken driving turns with Sarah (Ethan guessed that Erica would object to his ever taking the wheel!). How Benny, his best friend and the funniest guy he knew, could liven up the trip. And Rory was enthusiastic about anything.

But Erica could (in Ethan's view) "shut-him-down" with a few insults. Ethan never really seemed to get many words in edgewise when she was around.

Furthermore, to Ethan's annoyance, that he found that as a werewolf he was very impatient being sandwiched between his best friend and second-best friend. He needed more room, he was restless, and worst of all he found he couldn't completely suppress his sense of smell. Benny had a sour decaying smell, and Rory smelt like garlic.

Wistfully, Ethan thought of the road-trip he had taken with Benny and Rory a few months ago. This trip should have been ever better, way cooler; after all there no parents around! But . . . yeah . . . having been turned into a werewolf spoiled everything.

Oh, and what else? Erica had already told him to slouch so he wouldn't block the rear-view-mirror. Like she even used it!

Ethan didn't say a thing about all this, and hid his feeling under a pair of earphones and did his best to play _Raiders of the Galaxy_.

Sarah wondered what she was going to do for twelve plus hours, as the geeks had quickly turned to their computers. Having not been much in the mood to take her homework with her, she was determined to listen to music. But Sarah thought she'd soon be bored . . . all day with a pair of ear-buds was a bit much.

Sarah thought of the school yearbook. She had given up the job of preparing for school pictures to Hannah. There was always the chance that she's miss yearbook photos completely (again), and like Rory she was desperate to have a proper "school picture day". Erica felt the same too, although Erica couched her delight at having a real school photo as the " _one good thing about being human_."

Sarah had started-off annoyed with Ethan, who only gave a thumbs-up and a grin looking in her direction. But Ethan quickly removed his earphones and been about to say something . . . when Erica complained about the rear window being blocked.

It was then Sarah remembered that Ethan wasn't exactly at his best in front of Erica.

* * *

Like many towns and small cities, Whitechapel, in Southwestern Ontario, had put out tendrils toward a major highway. This was where you'd find gas stations, fast-food restaurants and even a motel or two. In Whitechapel's case, these roadside businesses sprawled along the two-lane Highway 2B to the interchange with Highway 401; that is, the longest freeway in the province, running in a crisscross in Southern and Eastern Ontario, from Windsor (across from Detroit) in the Southwest to the Quebec border at Montreal in the Northeast.

But before they even reached the highway, Erica pulled what Ethan considered an unforgivable stunt.

* * *

They were waiting at the traffic light, the last obstacle holding them back from the outdated highway on-ramps that connected Whitechapel with the 401 and high-speed access to the rest of the province.

Erica had placed a CD box in the central counsel of the Challenger. _What CD could possibly make a ride in a Dodge Challenger uncool?_

"Seriously?" Sarah questioned.

"Why not?" sniffed Erica.

A breathy female voice began to speak. She sounded hot. Rory stopped his game, and looked up at the radio. Benny too, took off his earphones to listen better.

 _"Chapter 1. As far back as I can remember, I've wanted to be a vampire . . . ."_

Ethan growled before he could help himself, it was such a surprise.

" _Dusk_?" Ethan said. "You're making us listen to an audio book version of _Dusk_?"

"I also have _Dusk V_ " said Erica oilily. "If you think it's more relevant. In fact, I have the entire series on CD."

"Not digital?" snickered Benny. "You're lugging around a few dozen actual CD's? What's next? Vinyl, like Grandma?"

"Actual records are popular again" said Sarah diplomatically.

Sarah didn't expect a "crisis" so soon; Erica had swerved and stopped on the shoulder, just before the left turn to the eastbound on-ramp. There had once been a full cloverleaf ramp here, connecting Highway 2B and the 401. The pattern of the weed-filled and long-removed ramps were still visible. Two of four ramps were removed for reasons of safety, the other two slightly modified . . . to eliminate "weaving". It was a boring place to stop.

"You're not going to make us listen to _Dusk_ the entire trip!" Ethan said.

"I have to listen to something I like while driving" Erica returned. "How else can I focus?"

Ethan's seer powers were gone, but he knew by her tone . . . as did Sarah and Benny (but not Rory) that left unsaid was "how can I focus with you three geeks here."

"What about _Single Tear_?" suggested Rory. "We can all listen to that?"

"I'm not going to listen to _Single Tear . . . with Rory_ " said Erica. "But I can listen to _Dusk_ with anybody or nobody."

"I have a spare pair of headphones" Ethan volunteered, reluctantly. "Just plug them into the stereo, and you'll have _Dusk_ to yourself."

"You know it's better to have it spoken through the luxury speaker system" Erica retorted. "And there's no way I'm putting on anything that have been on your ears."

"If we're driving all day, I'm okay with _Dusk_ " Sarah interrupted.

"And listen all day to some chick whine about sparkling bloodsuckers" Benny said.

"I used to be a fan" said Sarah, as Erica smiled and savoured her small victory. Erica returned to the road and entered the left-turn lane.

"I guess it's okay" said Rory, putting on his headphones and turning up his sound. "I won't be listening."

"Besides" said Sarah, as she turned to face Ethan, "it's not as if _Dusk_ has anything to do with _actual_ vampires."

 _Disaster averted_ , Erica duly sped on the on-ramp Eastbound, ignoring the 401's 100 km/h (60 mph) speed limit. Erica, without signalling, switched to the left lane, and sped up to 145 kilometres per hour, that is to say 90 miles per hour.

* * *

It isn't in the nature of most teenagers to be much phased by speeding. And the very fact of being in a sports-car, passing quickly on a divided highway through mile after mile of stubbled fields, tends to dim such senses further.

Rory, for one, was impressed to be going faster (in a car) than he ever had in his life. Benny thought it was cool to be going so fast so relaxed. And besides, both were more intent on _Raiders of the Galaxy_. Sarah's senses were just dulled from her times going super-speed when un-dead; as well as listening simultaneously to her music in one earbud and _Dusk_ through the car stereo.

But Ethan had his limits, so after keeping quiet for a time (and being jostled twice or thrice times by Erica's lane-changes), he spoke up.

"You know, Erica, I don't really care how you drive, but if you crash you're going to kill us all. It's barely above freezing, you know what black ice is like?"

"But this _Challenger_ is awesome" said Rory. "Dude, don't forget, you're a werewolf, only silver kills you. So you don't have to worry dude . . . but . . ."

Rory knitted his brows, as realization hit him. "Maybe you should slow down, Erica? I mean, when we're changing lanes?"

"Try not to be such geeks for once" Erica retorted.

"You think you should cool it?" asked Sarah, as Erica had crept up past 150 kilometres an hour (95 miles per hour) and was now treating most cars as slow-moving-obstacles in some type of video game.

"Besides" said Ethan. "You know the law. Driving 50 over the limit is considered stunt-driving. Not only do you get your license suspended, you get the car impounded."

"Like the cops would stop me!" Erica outright laughed.

Erica was instantly disillusioned as the five heard the sirens of the distinctive black-and-white patrol car giving chase. It was the Ontario Provincial Police, who patrolled this and all Ontario highways.

"IF I turn into a werewolf" thought Ethan bitterly, "I swear I'm going to eat her."

* * *

Erica had shown signs, in Sarah's view, of wanting to outrun the policeman.

"Don't!" Sarah said, on one of the few occasions she ordered Erica what _not_ to do.

"This would have never happened if I were still a vampire" Erica said crankily.

"Because we would have never trusted you to drive" Ethan muttered.

He got a high five from Benny, and even Rory.

* * *

The police car had been hidden underneath an overpass. It was a few moments before it caught up with them. The middle of the highway was a grassy median here, so Erica had pulled over to the left. This further annoyed the cop; he made a sign for her to pull over to the right. This in turn frustrated Erica all the more.

Erica was furious when the policeman, a lean young man who spoke in a stolid voice, seemed unimpressed by her smile. Or leastways, if he was, his eyes were as well hidden as Benny's behind a pair of sunglasses with side-shields.

"Which one of you teens is Malcolm Brunner . . . grandson of Manafort Brunner" asked the policeman, as he took note of Erica's license and Malcolm Brunner's car registration and insurance in the glove-box.

"Does everybody bring up Malcolm's grandfather?" asked Sarah.

"I just happen to know the name of the one of the biggest auto parts makers in Canada" said the policeman, going into a lecture. "And just because one of you may be a Brunner, doesn't mean the law doesn't apply to you or you can't cause a serious accident. I'm going to have to pull this young lady's license and seize the car."

"But none of us are Malcolm Brunner . . . grandson of Manafort Brunner" Benny objected.

"Is this car stolen?"

"Nuh-uh" Rory said. "Borrowed."

"This will explain everything" said Erica, pridefully.

She pulled a carefully-folded letter from a pocket.

The police officer read the note.

"That's a great idea for a school trip" he said in a monotone, little different from his natural voice. "A road trip. I'm sure you'll be able to keep up on your other homework."

Erica gave a sly grin.

"Do you have any questions?"

"No" he said. "I'm not interested. Go on your way."

The police officer looked slightly surprised after saying that. But he ripped up the ticket, which was what mattered most to Erica (and everybody else).

Erica drove off as everyone else looked at her in shock.

"I can't believe you kept the note" Sarah said.

"I understand why you didn't want to keep it" Erica returned. "But I would have thought the lumber jerks would have pocketed _their_ notes."

Erica toned down her driving, and in truth she hadn't been sure Mrs. Weir's letter would have worked on the police officer. And Erica didn't know how many _more_ times the letter would work.

* * *

The 401 started as two lanes in each direction, and soon added a third lane after meeting the 402 near London. The highway became increasingly busy as they went along, past the edge of Woodstock, Kitchener and Cambridge. Here, everybody denied Rory's request they make an hour-long detour to his favourite restaurant ( _The Flying Saucer_ , several miles to the south). Erica, because it was "geeky". Everybody else, because it was far out of the way.

"March break, Rory" said Ethan quietly, who in fact would have wanted to show Sarah the place. "When we're not with _her_."

"And I'll bring Della" said Benny.

"If you're still dating her" said Rory skeptically, to Benny's glower. Rory confidently added, "But we'll bring around _my_ girlfriend. I'll have one by then."

* * *

The morning, _Dusk_ , and _Raiders_ _of the Galaxy_ wore on. It helped that Ethan, Benny and Rory paid little attention to _Dusk_ , while Erica forgot the rear-view mirror and all but ignored the three in the back seat. A couple of hours in, Ethan though, was almost driven to distraction by the smell of his friends. Benny had decided to eat some chicken heads. Rory, passing on the chicken heads, pulled out a few garlic cloves to munch on.

Ethan chugged on a can of root beer, still jostled during lane changes as Erica was an impatient driver.

By this time the gang was leaving the 401. The highway having been blasted through the lines of cliffs that was the Niagara Escarpment, and passed by way of the ballooning suburb of Milton was approaching its busiest section. In the last bit of country before Toronto and its suburbs (Canada's largest city) they had driven into traffic caused by rush hour congestion far ahead. It didn't last long, as they left the 401 for the 407, a toll highway that gave Toronto-proper a wide berth.

Cameras on the highway on and off-ramp photographed the license plates of users, and mailed out monthly bills based on miles travelled.

"About fifty dollars to skip the traffic" said Ethan, who stopped _Raiders of the Galaxy_ to do the calculation and duly typed it in.

The 407 went through the cities ringing Toronto to the west and northwest. Mississauga, Brampton, and Vaughan. The biggest site to see here was the Chrysler plant, where the very car they were riding in had been assembled. Avoiding Toronto and traffic soon brought them off the toll highway to the 400, the only major freeway heading towards the north of the province. After passing the roller coasters of _Canada's Wonderland_ , the 400 narrowed to three lanes in each direction and they were finally out of the city and back in the country.

* * *

 _Disaster now struck._ At least for Ethan, Benny and Rory. A snap was heard and the lights on the power splitter, power inverter, and laptop cords failed. The small yellow fuse powering all of it had blown, and not surprising given how much it had been worked for the last few hours.

"We need to stop and get some new fuses" said Ethan, matter-of-factly. "Can you hand me the owner's manual. I need to know which ones to get."

"We're not stopping to buy fuses" said Erica indignantly, as she paused her CD. One of her favourite and "most romantic" parts of _Dusk_ had been playing. The part where Edwin revealed to Isabella that he was a depressed, sparkling vampire. "Besides, don't you have several hours left on your battery?"

"Mine has four" said Ethan, "Benny's new one only has about three, Rory's is one of those laptops that only has about two."

"Well, my laptop has a 17.3 inch screen!" said Rory indignantly, taking this as a slight. "Yours is only a 15 inch-er."

"Battery life is _way more_ important that screen size" said Benny, taking Ethan's side. " _But that's not the real problem_. I _really_ need the food in the freezer. I mean, I don't want to go hunting for rat's brains."

"If you ever need to, I can help you with that" offered Rory gamely, although he was annoyed at the digs at his laptop. "I still remember their best hiding places."

"I'll pass for now, dude" said Benny, grimacing at the thought.

"You can plug the freezer into the cigarette lighter up front" Sarah observed. Sarah had been listening to her music instead of _Dusk_ for some time now. An hour or two was enough of the sparkling vampires, which had little appeal to her now. "We can stop when we break for lunch."

Lunch was a thirty-minute argument. Erica, forgetting about hating to be seen with geeks (or perhaps figuring she was hours from home, so it didn't matter), decided she wanted to go to the most luxurious restaurant off the highway. Ethan, Rory and Benny wanted burgers by way of a drive-thru. Erica refused. This again put Sarah in the middle.

Which was starting to get on her nerves.

"You can't even eat anything without brains" Sarah pointed out to Benny.

"I can, it just won't do much for me" Benny said. "And a guy gets tired of eating brains. No matter how appetizing, gooey and full of protein they are."

Ethan looked at Benny with surprise.

"I thought you hated eating brains."

" _I hate that I like eating brains_ " Benny returned. "It's the same with you and all the meat you've been sneaking from your mom and dad. _Especially raw meat_."

"How did you know about that?" asked Ethan.

"I can relate" said Sarah, cutting the argument short.

"Sort of like blood and being a vamp" said Rory, thinking reflectively. "I mean, but I went and ate regular food the whole time."

"You would have stopped eventually" said Erica pompously. "You really shouldn't have been eating anything besides blood . . . unless you needed to keep up _appearances_ with the people around you."

"Nuh-uh" Rory objected.

"You know what" said Sarah, interrupting again. "Let's stop for lunch. I don't really think we should have the car smelling like burgers for the whole trip."

"I didn't think of that" Ethan admitted.

Ethan would sure smell the burgers the entire trip!

"Besides, Malcolm really owes us" said Benny. "But we're not going to some girly place with gourmet food."

Sarah and Erica exchanged glances.

"Lumber jerk describes you really well" Sarah said coldly.

"Just because I don't want to go to . . . ." started Benny.

"If we're stopping, we can get fuses too!" Rory exclaimed, as his 17.3 inch screen laptop sent a pop-up screen warning him that the battery only had an hour's life left in it.

* * *

The last large city in southern Ontario was Barrie, on the shores of Lake Simcoe. Highway 400 twisted around that city, its original terminus when it was first built many decades before. But it was only just past ten o'clock, so Erica drove past without stopping. On the far side of Barrie, the highway forked. To the northwest the 400 continued, to eventually devolve into the two-lane Highway 69 as it connected to Sudbury, the Nickle City, the largest city in Ontario's north. This was also the major route for private cars heading through Canada to the west. At Sudbury, Highway 69 connected to Highway 17, the more popular route of the Trans-Canada Highway. Eventually, it connected Ontario cities with Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Vancouver . . . thousands of miles down the road.

But the teen's destination was in the northeast. They now continued on Highway 11, which would take them to north Cochrane. Far to the west, Highway 11 eventually reconnected with the main Trans-Canada Highway near Thunder Bay; although that seemed irrelevant now. This route to the north and west of Highway 17 wasn't popular among private travellers. It was further north, being more monotonous, had less services and much less scenic. Yet, it was favoured by truckers headed west who despised the heavy grades alongside the scenic but steep and stormy shores of Lake Superior.

Highway 11 continued as a four lane divided freeway to North Bay. The first leg of this highway, however, had only been cheaply upgraded some 50 years before. Although there was no cross-traffic (roads travelling over 11 on the standard overpasses) the section of the highway sported many businesses with direct highway access along the side. While convenient for getting gas (as Erica soon did), it was irritating when cars entered the highway at a full stop, while traffic was driving 60 mph on a through highway.

This was also Toronto's cottage country, where the fields of the lowlands of southern Ontario started to give way to the forests and lakes of the Canadian shield that dominated the north. At this natural boundary was the City of Orillia. Orillia was a Whitechapel-sized place though considerably better known . . . and never having suffering the same murder and missing-person rate). Erica exited the highway, everybody finally having agreed on what they'd have to eat . . . where they'd buy fuses.

* * *

Rory's laptop having given out, Team Sabre plus Erica went to get fuses at _Home Hardware_. Ethan quickly installed them, but by then it was past 11:00.

The gang went to _West Side Luigi's_ for an early lunch. The meal started off great, Ethan sat beside Sarah and shared an appetizer with her. Erica somehow found herself beside Benny and Rory when they piled onto her side of the table.

It was really a scheme of Benny's (plotted with Rory), who was after all was Ethan's best friend and wasn't going to let Erica ruin everything all the time. And it worked, in Ethan's view it was a little like a date. A date with Sarah, albeit with his friends (and Erica, or including Erica, depending on how you looked at it) along.

Ethan didn't feel like calling Erica a friend when she told the petite red-headed waitress that the three were geeks and "lumber jerks" along for the ride. The waitress had been admiring (or so Ethan, Benny and Rory thought) the three boys' matching checkered shirts and jeans.

But this, in Ethan's view, was just the start of Erica making herself annoying. Erica criticized everybody else's choice of appetizers. Everybody else thought _Luigi's Calamari_ was great; but Erica insisted that squid was gross. And, she added, only guys who would eat rats, brains and raw meat would think of it.

If the appetizers hadn't just then arrived, Ethan would have talked a lot about human blood being gross.

"And he's sure to bring up the vampire restaurant" thought Sarah, as she shared a pan of calamari with Ethan. Sarah knew that experience always rankled Ethan. Maybe it would for as long as he lived!

In a way, Sarah thought it was very sweet. Sarah knew Ethan had (naturally) objected to being considered her dinner; she also knew Ethan begrudged, _maybe even to a greater extent than his being on the menu_ , Erica's sabotaging his first official date with Sarah!

* * *

Ethan and Benny each had the four-meat lasagna for their main course, Rory took a personal pizza heavy on the garlic, Sarah took some linguini, while Erica felt that her distinguished palate could suffer nothing less than veal parmigiana.

A few Root beers, cokes, and some later, they were finished. There was a brief argument over the tip. Benny and Rory thought the waitress deserved a bigger tip for being a "hot redheaded chick". Ethan was too Sarah-absorbed to say a thing. As Malcolm was paying, the "redheaded chick" received a massive 20%. Ethan pocketed the receipt, with a little misgivings at having spent over $150.00 on their lunch.

* * *

Soon, they were back on Highway 11. But first they stopped at Tim Horton's drive-through for some coffees, as it was now nearly one o'clock.

Erica was no longer so happy, as the steering wheel had passed into the more responsible hands of Sarah. Sarah went at the speed of the rest of the traffic, and avoided the sharp, unsignalled lane changes of Erica. But she had agreed to let the rest of the first _Dusk_ novel play out over the speakers.

Ethan was jostled less, but his relaxation was short lived. It wasn't that _Dusk_ was playing. It wasn't even that Rory decided to show off his belching skills and challenged Ethan and Benny to do the same (Erica and Sarah put a stop to that before it started).

Past Orillia, the landscape changed from farmland to forest and rock as the highway ascended the hills of the Canadian Shield. The densely packed cottage and vacations areas became scarce as they went along. The temperature also decreased by several degrees. So within the hour, they were driving though a landscape of snow-covered tree and rock.

The restlessness Ethan suffered since being a counterfeit werewolf increased. And he felt in a bad temper. Not only from Erica, but also from being stuffed between Rory and Benny. Ethan closed his laptop with a snap. There was no way he could just sit and stare at a screen, he felt.

"Just tired of playing" Ethan lied nonchalantly, as everybody but Sarah looked at him.

Ethan started to sweat. He wondered idly why he was in a checkered shirt, jeans and coat. He probably be okay in a T-shirt and gym shorts. Just because there was snow outside, and it was freezing, didn't mean he needed to overheat. And . . . .

What was he thinking? It was freezing outside, and the car heater was on low. Ethan really had no business being warm.

Ethan put on the sunglasses Rory had given him. He didn't think his eyes were glowing, but he did feel his eyes dilate. He had this sudden wish to run out of the car into the woods. And . . . do what, Ethan wasn't too sure. But it had to be something werewolfish.

Benny took that moment to eat one of those brain sausages of his. That also got on Ethan's nerves.

"Want one?" asked Benny.

"No, you better save them for yourself, buddy" said Ethan, with a forced grin and a strained voice.

Ethan soon regretted it. Listening to Benny munch on the sausage was almost too much. Ethan started to get angry as the minutes went by. His hands unsteady, he plugged his earphones into his phone and put some of his favourite music.

Still, Ethan felt steadily worse. Even though Benny and Rory had turned back to their laptops. Ethan envied them, as he now felt a nervous wreck.

"I must look it" Ethan thought, as Benny and Rory both glanced at him from time to time.

Benny, remembering his grandmother's warning, merely played the game. He wondered if he should say anything, or if Ethan would "lose it". And a berserk werewolf was probably a dangerous thing.

Rory didn't know what was wrong with Ethan. After losing a couple of spaceships while his mind was wandering about Ethan, he placed _Raiders of the Galaxy_ on pause and considered.

"It must some werewolf thing" Rory guessed correctly. "But I better give Ethan his space while he figures it out."

Sarah was too busy looking at the road and talking to Erica. And Erica was listening to _Dusk_ , although if Ethan had been more attentive he'd have realized her now taking periodic glimpses of Ethan in her side-mirror.

Finally, Ethan became furious. The colour rushed into his face.

Ethan was angry at everyone. Angry at his stupid, video-game playing friends. He felt as if he could rip apart Benny's un-dead limbs. Some best friend! How many times had Benny taken advantage of him in the past! How could he just sit there eating in front of him! And Rory! Too much of the _excitable, idiotic_ Rory got on his nerves. Friend? Ethan wanted to punch in his skull.

"Something wrong dude?" asked Rory earnestly, who saw Ethan's red face.

And Erica? That _geeky Dusker_? How'd she like to be thrown from a moving car.

Sarah was the only one he wanted to be with. Sarah alone and everyone else he could tear apart . . . .

Ethan was hit by a sudden wave of unwanted sound and smell. In a car with four other teenagers, that was impossible. Funny enough, the shock saved him.

Ethan duly concentrated on Sarah, everything went back to normal.

"I'm okay" said Ethan, in such a gasp that Sarah pulled the car over and stopped on the shoulder.

"Are you sure, Ethan?" asked Sarah, concernedly. "What happened?"

"It's the woods" said Benny, after a moment's pause. "It just puts gasoline on his instincts. Now we're going into his, _sorry Ethan_ , natural habitat he gets worse."

"Why didn't you warn me?" asked Ethan.

"Grandma said not to."

Ethan realized why, but kept quiet. His being shaken back to reality by the overpowering smell and sounds were probably what Evelyn Weir had very much supposed would happen. Before his werewolf instincts overwhelmed his personality, before they had reached a crisis and caused him to attack his own friends, his werewolf senses would collide with the natural state of his mind.

"I get it, dude" said Rory, briefly putting his hand on Ethan's shoulder (and removing it quickly, as it was a very awkward gesture in a car). "It's like being turned into a vampire. When was made a _bloodsucker . . . temporarily_ . . . I wanted to bite the moon."

Rory noticed Erica glaring at him.

"It's, uh, okay Erica, I don't really blame you. I know it was the same thing with you."

"You don't know _anything_ " snapped Erica.

"And I threw Stern in the trash" Sarah put in. "Are you better now?"

"Yeah, I'm okay Sarah" said Ethan, who managed a weak grin.

"Have any of you lumber jerks considered the obvious?" asked Erica.

"What's that?" said Benny.

"It's a bad idea to put the werewolf in the middle seat" said Erica. "He should at least have more room by the window."

"I'll trade" Rory volunteered. "I mean, I'm the only _completely human_ guy now . . . I mean _for now_ , dudes."

* * *

Ethan felt better sitting behind Sarah, and . . . as annoying as Rory could be . . . he was a true friend although not his best friend.

But Ethan couldn't help but groan a little at the thought of again looking stupid . . . well, _animalistic_ in front of Sarah.

"Grrr"

It was with surprise, Ethan discovered that he had growled instead of groaned. He couldn't groan anymore? It was a small thing, but . . . yeah.

Ethan stared out the window for several miles. He remembered that vampire instincts had once been natural for Sarah, Rory and Erica. Erica was a bad example. But there was Sarah and Rory. Well if Sarah could act human and be a vamp (and if even Rory could make that cut!), so could Ethan as werewolf.

Rory now liked to use the example of the Symbiotes in _Spiderman III_ for his corruption as a vamp. Well, Ethan figured he'd have to deal with his own werewolf version of a "Symbiote" until further notice.

* * *

North Bay was a city of some 50,000 people, deep in the Canadian Shield and on the shores of the shallow Lake Nippissing. Aptly, it was nicknamed _"The Gateway to the North"_. Here, Highway 11 crossed and formed a brief concurrency with Highway 17, the main trunk of the Trans-Canada Highway. With rocky hills to the north, and relatively few people, it was the end of the divided freeway. Having not had a single traffic light since Whitechapel (aside from their stopover in Orillia), city traffic and lights made everyone impatient. It was already 3:00, and the November sun was low in the sky.

On the far side of North Bay, there was a combination _Tim Hortons_ and _Wendy's_. While Erica went through the drive-through and bought coffee, Sarah went inside claiming she needed to use the washroom. Sarah went to the _Wendy's_ and bought two triple burgers for Ethan.

"There's nothing worse than a starving werewolf" she thought wryly. "Not even a _Challenger_ smelling like hamburger. I've seen him enough to know he's humiliated to eat too much meat in front of me. Even as a werewolf, Ethan's a pretty sweet guy. No, make that a cool guy. Maybe the _coolest geek_ in the world."

Sarah smiled at that thought. She also gave Ethan a hug after she passed him the triple burgers.

"A pound and half of beef" she heard Ethan say to himself, greedily. "Uh . . . thanks, for thinking of me, Sarah."

"Don't starve yourself Ethan" Sarah reminded him. "I know better than anybody you can't help it and it won't do you any good. There's no such thing as a fledgeling counterfeit werewolf."

* * *

The two lanes of Highway 11, one in each direction, went uphill and north from the shores of Lake Nippissing. It was now about 25 F or -4 C. The highway monotonously wound through the woods. Every few miles were signs warning of moose on the road. Every now and again they would see a rail-line beside them; the same line that parallelled the highway up to Cochrane and beyond to Moosonee just below James Bay.

* * *

"Maybe we should turn here" said Erica after about an hour.

She had an elfish grin, looking at the sign pointing to Cobalt, _Silver Capital of Canada_.

"Not . . . funny" said Benny, Ethan and Rory at once.

Sarah looked away from the road long enough to give Erica a cold stare.

"What do you want?" shrugged Erica. " _Dusk_ is over and the lumber geeks will freak out if I start _Dusk II_."

* * *

At sunset, the woods abruptly ended and to all appearances Team Sabre plus Sarah were again in Southern Ontario. This area was known as the Great Clay Belt; specifically, here was an oasis of farmer's fields alongside the shores of Lake Timiskaming. These fertile lowlands buried deep in the Canadian shield came as a surprise if one wasn't expecting them.

This was also known as the tri-town areas. Here, three small towns, New Liskeard, Haileybury, and Cobalt ( _Silver Capital of Canada_ ) had, combined, just less than half the population of Whitechapel. Despite being a hunting, fishing and mining-history hub, it likely had less than 1% the excitement of Whitechapel too.

While farmland was generally dull to pass through, the snow-covered fields were a great change for as long as they lasted. Ethan cheered up.

"Even _The Silver Capital of Canada_ can't get me down" Ethan joked. "Besides, given there's a historical mine tour advertized on that sign, I guessing the mines are all tapped out."

Sarah stopped for gasoline. And in spite of Erica's objections, Sarah suggested Ethan drive . . . and Rory and Benny backed her up.

"But why?" Erica insisted. "Ethan has the least experience. He'll . . . hit a moose or a bear. Maybe he'll even drive the car off the road _chasing after a moose or bear_."

"Give me _some_ credit, Erica" Ethan complained, embarrassedly adding. "I might eat too much meat . . . everyone knows I _even_ eat raw meat now . . . but I _can still_ drive a car without giving chase to wild animals."

"But Ethan _can_ see in the dark" Benny volunteered. "If you don't want to hit a moose, you need Ethan driving. I mean, _I can see in the dark_ . . . . _so I'm betting he can by now_? _Dude, you can, can you?_

"Can you?" asked Sarah.

Ethan took off his sunglasses. He could. He even admitted it, a bit reluctantly.

" _Awesome_ " said Rory. "Shotgun!"

"I'm keeping shotgun" said Erica bluntly. "No way I'm sitting back there with Benny."

"I thought you didn't want to be seen sitting with Ethan?" challenged Benny.

"It's _dusk_ " said Erica, with a particular relish of that synonym for sundown.

" _Dusk_ " said Ethan scornfully. "We get it, Erica."

"No one's going to see me in the dark" Erica shrugged. "And nobody _really_ knows us up here."

* * *

That was how Ethan cautiously . . . maybe even too cautiously . . . .drove the last two and a half hours into Cochrane. All too soon the snow-covered fields gave way to snow-covered firs and pines. But it turned out that giving a teenage werewolf the wheel in his natural habitat was the best thing for him. Concentration managed to dull Ethan's instincts.

It was a cold, cloudy night. It was 8:00, and most of the long-distance travellers had left the road. The temperature was 15 degrees Fahrenheit, or -10 degrees Celsius. Team Sabre plus Erica finally entered Cochrane. The town of 5000 was famous for being the birthplace of Canadian hockey legend and restauranteur Tim Horton.

But after a day's driving, they didn't even visit the local _Tim Hortons_ or the hockey museum which would ordinarily have at least attracted Benny and Ethan. Nor, to Rory's disappointment, did they visit the _Polar Bear Habitat_ west of town.

* * *

They went directly to the _Imperial Hotel and Restaurant_ , a place Erica had pre-selected on the GPS and no one bothered to argue about it. It was a stodgy building next to the courthouse, red brick with white stone pillars.

"It looks like it's the place for lawyers to stay" shrugged Erica, as she went in the door.

"Or the criminals" joked Sarah. "But I suppose we could do worse."

"What do lawyers and vampires have in common?" Benny asked Ethan as they followed the girls into the hotel lobby.

"They're both bloodsuckers" Ethan returned, with a shrug. "Lame, Benny."

But Rory hadn't heard the joke, and laughed aloud.

"We can probably take one room" suggested Benny slyly he rang the bell at the desk.

"Dream on" said Sarah. "It's two rooms."

* * *

And with a quick trip to the restaurant (and a rare steak for Ethan, he had given up pretending he wanted it cooked more), they went to their double rooms connected by an adjoining door. Not that it mattered there was a door. Erica and Sarah soon locked it tight.

The boy's rooms had two double beds and a sofa bed. It was comfortable, well kept, although the furniture looked as if it had been revarnished several times.

Again, Ethan was reminded of the much carefree trip they had to Benny's mother's. He even casually looked in the closet for a Murphy Bed, and was mildly disappointed when he didn't find it.

"At least I'm not going to held a thousand feet in the air again" Ethan said to himself, in a wry tone.

 _Because that had also been a thing that happened._

* * *

Benny used his smart-phone to call his grandmother, Evelyn wanting to hear of their safe arrival. Ethan and Rory looking on a bit regretfully. _Their_ parents were magically hypnotized, so it was useless to talk to them. Not unless they wanted to hear the Morgans and Keaners recite magically-inspired confidence that Ethan and Rory wouldn't fall behind on their homework.

"I know it's nine" yawned Benny, after he hung up. "But I'm dead."

Rory and Ethan looked at him.

"You know what I mean" he said.

"We can't go to sleep now" said Ethan, also with a yawn. "What'll Sarah . . . and Erica . . . think?"

"That we're tired?" suggested Rory, and accenting his remark with a yawn and a stretch.

* * *

But there was considerable truth in what Ethan had said. A teenage guy couldn't go to bed at nine under any circumstances. The three turned on the television and tuned to the cable TV guide channel. They were happy to find a _Star Trek_ rerun.

Ethan was as tired as Benny. He forgot that Sarah was unlikely to be impressed by Ethan's watching _Star Trek_.

* * *

It was just lucky that, unlike the geeks, the girls had chosen to shower after a long day's drive. Ethan would probably have wanted to see Sarah in her pajamas on lying her pillow, talking to Erica about the day's events and how they'd face Stephanie tomorrow.

* * *

Once Captain Kirk (William Shatner, like Lorne Greene, was Canadian, as Benny reminded them) had finished travelling "where no man has gone before", the geeks were finally ready to call it a night.

"Who gets the sofa bed?" Ethan asked.

"I'll take it" Rory volunteered.

It wasn't that Rory was a big fan of sofa-beds. It was that the long drive up here taught him one thing. When your friends have been turned into monsters, being the human-dude means you have to make some sacrifices.


	23. The Wild Moose Chase Continues

**The Wild Moose Chase Continues**

 _In the shadowy early morning, Benny drifted to the door connecting the boys' room with the girls'. Benny placed his ear against next to the portal and listened to a heated argument coming from within Sarah and Erica's hotel room._

"I can't believe I'm lucky enough Benny's girl!" gushed Della. "I'm the most privileged girl at school! You know, the reason he hasn't dated anyone before me? It was because Benny's is so tall, dark and handsome he couldn't find a girl worthy of _canoodling_ with him?

 _Benny opened the door and walked inside. Della and Erica were in nightgowns while Sarah was wearing pajamas. The two double beds had been replaced by a enormous bed with a fifty or sixty jumbo-sized pillows, all a brilliant white._

"It's no fair!" whined Erica. "I _should_ have Benny. Even Edwin is _nothing_ compared to _Benny_. The only reason I pretend not to realize how cool he is, is I know he won't have me."

"I'd _so_ date Benny" said Sarah with a sigh, as she crossed her arms. "But I know what a good and loyal and honourable and smart and clever guy he is. I'm his best friends' girl . . . I'll just have to worship him _from afa_ r.

"You don't have to argue over me, chicks" said Benny, as he casually walked in. "There's enough Benny to go around!"

"BENNY!" said the three girls at once.

"He's mine!" said Erica, taking one of the pillows beating it over Della's head.

 _It was a feather pillow, so white feathers flew everywhere._

"I'm not going to lose Benny to a _Dusker!_ " said Della.

 _Benny's girlfriend took two pillows and hit Erica with them across the torso._

 _More feathers flew, many into Sarah. Sarah demolished a pillow with a karate chop, sending even more feathers flying._

 _The girls took turns in what was a truly epic pillow fight. Somehow they ended up bouncing on the bed, which . . . surprise, surprise, had a feather mattress._

 _Strange to say, Della won the fight; Erica somehow ended up sobbing in a corner, while Sarah disappeared entirely. But Erica soon vanished too, leaving Della caressing Benny's face and kissing him several times._

" _Oh, you have such gorgeous brown ey_ es" gushed Della, but suddenly she began to scream.

 _Della disappeared and was replaced by a mirror. Benny's zombified black pupils showed up in his eyes. But he looked altogether like a movie zombie, as his skin was tinged green and his jeans and striped-T-shirt in rags. Zombie Benny jumped back as Stephanie, in cheerleading outfit appeared in the mirror laughing maniacally with glowing red eyes._

* * *

All in all, it was a miserable way to end what had started off as an awesome dream. More so, because Benny had awoke at 4:30 am, and he was very hungry. And it sucked to have to go outside to get some of the brains they had left in the car.

"Even camping in Mole Scouts, I was never the first guy awake" Benny muttered, as he looked around and saw his friends were still asleep.

Deciding he'd be a jerk if he'd wake up his friends, Benny returned quietly to the room for his coat and the _Challenger_ keys. Remembering that the train station opened early (as it had its own hotel), Benny decided to buy the five tickets.

After leaving the room, he immediately returned for his sunglasses. And Benny hated wearing sunglasses at night! Could anything make you look more like an idiot? Even Rory wouldn't wear sunglasses at night.

Chicken heads weren't improved by being frozen, as Benny soon found out. They lost that mushy, gooey, slurpy feeling as they were down your throat. Benny realized that all zombies must like that. _That also sucked_. But Benny figured it was too bad he left them in the car to freeze (it was 15C, only 5F). They tasting like frozen waffles that hadn't been toasted.

Benny walked the couple of blocks to the station. He fell into conversation with the young man who was the ticket agent. Benny grinned as he bought the tickets. He ran back to the hotel parking lot, and ran back. Forgetting his grandmother's car rules, he started the _Challenger_ and drove it to the station.

Before he handed over the car, Benny remembered to remove the small insulated barrow of holy water. It wouldn't be a good idea to have it freeze.

* * *

"I can't believe you paid to take the car up to Moosonee" Sarah said a few hours later. "And that you didn't even wait for one of _us_ to drive it to the station."

The five teens had met in the girl's room, before going down for breakfast and leaving for the station. There was a good reason for it. The girls' sofa hadn't been folded out, and teenage boys aren't known for being fastidious about making their beds . . . especially when they have a hotel maid to do the work for them.

"We'll also have to carry our luggage to the station" muttered Erica.

"That's what you get for taking a suitcase instead of a backpack" Ethan pointed out annoyed. "After what Benny did . . . seriously, Erica, is that all you can think of?"

"Yeah" said Rory. "But . . . if Benny gets to drive, I get to drive up north. I mean, there's an ice road across the river from Moosonee to Moose Factory. That's mine!"

"No you don't" interrupted Erica. "It's mine."

"You'll find a way to break through the ice and drown us" muttered Benny.

"We'll compromise, I'll drive there" said Sarah, with a little satisfaction at the idea of driving a _Dodge Challenger_ across a frozen river. "Remember, Rory and you aren't supposed to drive."

"You're Ethan's babysitter, not mine" Benny muttered.

"Sister's babysitter' Ethan corrected, before added tensely (but careful not to growl) "And that doesn't change how stupid it was to load the car on the train."

"Okay, sister's babysitter. But, what the heck was wrong with loading the car on the train?" asked Benny. "It's only just north of one hundred bucks! And about the luggage? You'd instead carry all our supplies by hand up there?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong" said Ethan, counting off his fingers in a move that received an all too zombie-style groan from Benny. "One, when we get up there, we'll have to wait to have the car unloaded. Two, if Stephanie's left town we have to load the car on the train again. That takes time. Three. There's only so many flatcars available each trip. We might have to wait several days to book a return trip."

"Yeah, Ethan" Benny said sarcastically. "The whole town's going to book the train and leave us stuck. Besides, dude, I happen to know Stephanie's up there."

"How?" asked Ethan.

"I called Malcolm . . . grandson of Manafort Brunner . . . this morning" Benny said triumphantly. "Malcolm called up the Riverside Inn. Stephanie's still there."

"Will you quit the grandson of Manafort Brunner crap?" whined Erica. "It's getting _so_ annoying."

"Yeah it is" Sarah agreed.

"Okay, no grandson of Manafort Brunner" Ethan agreed. "But that's not important. Stephanie's trapped herself" said Ethan, becoming excited. "We can cast the spells, and I'll get my life back. Benny, you too, buddy."

Sarah and Benny looked at Ethan in surprise. Erica smiled to herself. As for Rory, with a shrug he wandered back into the boys' room.

"You might want to put on your glasses, Ethan" Sarah suggested.

"Why?"

"Your eyes are glowing against" Rory explained, as, at his normal human walking speed he now returned. He was carrying the pair of sunglasses he lent Ethan. Dude, if you were a vamp it would mean you being were really, really cutthroat right now."

"Bloodthirsty" corrected Erica. "Get you terminology right."

"You know" said Ethan, "it's only _us geeks_ who care about terminology."

Everybody laughed, even Sarah who made a half-hearted attempt to keep a straight face.

Erica turned crimson with embarrassment, and retreated to the bathroom.

"Anything the matter with her?" said Rory. "I bet she ate too much, and got carsick"

"I . . . I guess I'm sorry" said Ethan uncertainly, though aiming his apology at Sarah. "It was a just a joke."

"Yeah, but buddy, she feels like _chewing nails_ if someone implies she's still a geek instead of a hot ex-undead babe" Benny said.

"She'll get over it" said Sarah. "But after yesterday, she might have had it coming."

* * *

A short stop downstairs for breakfast (Ethan ordering rare steak and eggs, and looking embarrassed as he did so), and Team Sabre plus Erica were waiting at the train station well before nine o'clock.

The five-hour train ride was largely uneventful, but more enjoyable than the long road-trip of the day before. If only because Erica made herself scarce!

Rory ran into a retired "Bush Pilot" and his wife. Rory, armed with a camera and a copy of _Teenage Aviator_ , befriended them. His reward was to kept himself occupied for most of the trip talking wilderness aviation.

Initially Sarah, Ethan and Benny hung about but when the pilot and Rory went into the finer points of aviation they left. Benny used the on-board wifi to play games, while looking at the snow-covered trees pass backwards before him. He sat in one of two seats opposite Ethan and Sarah; those two enjoyed the view looking north.

For Sarah, the snow-covered forest, rock and icy lakes were monotonous . . . but also romantic. They conjured up the idea of the stereotypical romantic log cabin getaway with Ethan, albeit an Ethan stripped of any werewolf tendencies. Maybe a sled ride . . . Sarah wondered if in reality a dog sled would be more uncomfortable, cold and cacophonic than romantic. Forget the sled. How about the one-horse open sleigh? Jingle Bells. After all, it was mid-November, and the Christmas displays were out in the stores.

Ethan was prone to dwelling on the challenge ahead, but with Sarah around it softened his anxiety. After a half hour, he was cheerful. Going to the very south of Hudson Bay (well, James Bay, but really the same thing) with Sarah and his best friends.

There was, beside the railroad, an old telegraph line long unused and overgrown by brush. Somewhere the wires had fallen down, or the poles had even collapsed into a swamp. The line, too expensive to remove, marked their progress in a way the trees didn't. In an small way, it even helped calm Ethan by marking time and miles. The whistlestops on the journey, a few remote villages and hunting camps, were few and far between.

* * *

After a few hours, the trees had been reduced to copses of stunted spruce trees and birch, growing facing the hostile arctic winds coming down from Hudson Bay and the frigid far north.

One or twice, Ethan had an irritating feeling in the back of his mind that he should jump off the train and run around and howl mindlessly outside and trying to catch something to eat raw. There were wolves somewhere about, he had heard them at one of the infrequent stops.

Fortunately, joining everybody (but Erica) for lunch in the dining car interfered with such werewolf-minded stupidity.

As for Erica? She found a "cute guy", and abandoned everybody for the duration of the trip.

* * *

Moosonee looked like a small, modern town plotted down, deep in the wilderness and up at the tree line. Between the 20 degree Fahrenheit weather (everyone wore their coats, although neither Ethan nor Benny felt the cod), and the dull wait for the car to be unloaded, Ethan again became very uptight.

Ethan was half-convinced Stephanie _had turned herself_ invisible and was spying on them. Ethan was also worried that Stephanie would have been alerted by the idea of Malcolm's evil twin checking up on her. The idea of swallowing his pride, and literally sniffing out the trail of an invisible witch occurred to Ethan; until he realized he wouldn't know how Stephanie would smell and only had the vaguest idea of how dogs' tracked scents.

Instead of swallowing his pride, Ethan swallowed his fears and waiting impatiently with Benny, Sarah and the always excitable Rory; all of them watching the automobiles slowly get unloaded from the train.

"Bill says we're lucky" said Rory, speaking of his pilot friend. "Most of the time, the ice road isn't open this early in the year. Between the freezing of the Moose River and the opening of the ice road, the only way across is waiting for helicopter. Which would be awesome but take too long. So when the car's finally down, we can drive directly. Dude, you're sweating . . . in this cold? Wait . . . I get it. Werewolves aren't supposed to need coats, right?"

"Rory!" said Ethan, looking around warily. "You know, outside school, people actually listen to us when we talk about stuff like this."

"Zombies don't feel a thing" muttered Benny. "But werewolves can't be overheated. Even counterfeits like Ethan."

"I'm not going in short-sleeves when it's -7 Celsius" said Ethan, impatiently. "Everybody's going to think I'm crazy."

Sarah wondered how Ethan and his friends viewed their lumberjack outfits as normal, but kept quiet. In fact, Stephanie or not, she had been having a good time on the train and didn't want to waste it.

"I know how it works" said Sarah. 'But even if you only have to pretend to wear a coat to keep warm . . . I have a coat and I'm still cold."

"I guess we should go inside" said Ethan.

"Dude!" said Benny.

"What?" asked Ethan.

"Sarah says she's cold" muttered Benny to Ethan. " _That's your bat signal."_

Ethan thought a second. Then he put his arms around Sarah while they waited for the _Challenger_. It was almost worth it just for that moment. It was a bit strange, but Ethan could feel her heartbeat as he held her against him. And given Ethan's role in Sarah even having one, it made Ethan feel _awesome_.

Until Erica interrupted his happy reverie.

"I want you to meet Roger Latour" said Erica, triumphantly. "Here's my BFF Sarah, and the three geeks."

" _Waachiya_ " said a voice.

The voice belonged to a long-limbed youth of about eighteen or nineteen. Roger Latour was dark complexioned, and sported close-cropped black hair and dark brown eyes. In spite of just riding on the train for five hours, he was also very obviously tired, as he now stifled a yawn. Apparently he was running on coffee, as he expertly tossed a large cup into the nearest garbage can.

He grinned a welcome, and although he did his best, his gaze naturally turned more toward Sarah instead of the "three geeks".

" _Waachiya_ means hello, it's a greeting in Cree" Roger explained. "I'm from Moose Factory. Born and raised. I'm Cree on my Dad's side . . . but I spend most of my summers tour guiding and most people who come up here want to hear about the culture and a little of the language."

In fact, up here the station and other signs were often enough written in triplicate. Once using the Cree language with the Cree script. A second time in the Cree language and the Roman script. And finally, a third in the English language with the Roman script.

Benny made the mistake of comparing the signage to the Rosetta Stone, the famous stone tablet where Egyptian hieroglyphics, demotic script and Ancient Greek appeared side-by-side.

"Cree's an actual living language, Benny" said Roger impatiently, and somewhat angrily as well. "Not something that's been dead for thousands of years. You're Ethan?" he added, in a different tone.

"Yes" Ethan said, as he could think of nothing else. "Ethan Morgan."

"Erica's told me about how you're desperate to find that Stephanie. I'll take you to the _Riverside_. That's my mom's place! Where I grew up."

"See, finding him is my doing" said Erica.

"That's cigarette-lighter style good luck" said Ethan with a grin. "Finally."

"Huh?" asked Roger

"It's a Team Sabre joke" said Rory.

"Huh?"

"A geek thing" said Erica.

"Oh, yeah" said Roger.

* * *

Roger recovered his energy after another cup of coffee. He spoke keenly as he drove the car out of Moosonee and slowly across the ice-covered Moose River.

"Well, geeks or now, you have to be better than that weird chick. She drove up here, with a _Range Rover_? You get that? Carried it up by the train, my mother says. Mom wondered if Stephanie was going to one of the nearby reservations, the ones you only get to by ice road. Fort Albany, you know. But, no, she only drove it to the hotel. It's even weirder than the _Challenger_ you hauled up for a couple days. And that Stephanie . . . she just sits in her room looking at the river, and complains about the service, the food and there being nothing to do here. You'd think she'd at least look at the old trading post. No, she's waiting for something or someone for the better part of a month. I just talked to my mom a couple days ago. If she could, she'd throw her out. There's something _off_ about her. I'm actually happy she called me to come home from McGill for these couple of weeks."

Moose Factory Island wasn't the nearest island to Moosonee. They first drove past an uninhabited island that formed a small provincial park. Then finally, up onto the paved road on the opposite side of the small island as Moose Factory village itself. The main hotel there, the Cree EcoLodge, was the main landmark as they reached the island, but this was not the Riverside Inn where Stephanie was staying.

Moose Factory had the _Hudson Bay Company_ trading post well preserved as a historic sight. Several nineteenth century buildings reminded Ethan of villages in Southern Ontario out in the country near Whitechapel, albeit villages amongst farmland and not the cold, stunted forest of the north. Here, also, there was also a large hospital, several neighbourhoods of newer homes, an elementary and secondary school, a cultural centre and a few stores.

Several houses had malamutes or huskies in their yards. One or two of them managed to catch Ethan werewolf scent (or Benny's zombie stench) from the closed car and sent up an zealous barking.

Ethan, whose mind nagged him to growl, howl or bark back, felt two inches tall to be welcomed to town like that.

It was just lucky that Sarah reminded Roger that they weren't exactly there for a tour. But that Stephanie had something they wanted.

* * *

The _Riverside Inn_ was on a quiet point near the hospital and the east shore of the island. It had cheery blue siding, and was somewhat sheltered from the winds by old gnarled samples of blue spruce. The _Riverside_ also had a lawn and garden, or leastways did in the summer; it was now snow covered and white.

Reading about it online, Ethan had discovered was a small place with only a baker's dozen rooms. Some rooms had a solitary double-bed, others two; along with the normal desk, chest of drawers and night stand. The proudest boast of the place was, aside from the landscaping and the "jump off" point to hunting, fishing, canoeing and wilderness excursions . . . was that each room had its own bathroom and telephone. By the looks of the photos, Ethan figured the washrooms had been upgraded from closets.

There was one or two cars parked outside, but no _Range Rover_. But all wasn't lost, there was also a four car garage at the side.

"It's a nice place, Roger" said Sarah.

"Now let's see what we can do about your guest" said Ethan, as the last dogs' barks faded into the distance.


	24. Northern Lights

**Northern Lights**

Roger parked the car in the parking lot, and walking with them through a side door into the lobby.

It might have been better called a trophy room. Here, were mounted a moose head and a few sets of deer's antlers. There was also a polar bearskin rug. The furniture, a sofa and several chairs, was old fashioned, but comfortable-looking. They were stuffed and padded with goose feathers, and smelt it . . . at least by Ethan's nose.

Ethan had to stop to adjust his senses again. There were just too many old animals smells. He wanted to run out and take in the sub-arctic air.

"I used to volunteer at the petting zoo" said Rory, looking at a deer's head. "But this is sort of like my mummification project. For awhile there were a lot of small animals I snacked . . . ."

Ethan elbowed him in the ribs.

"It's okay" said Rory, with a shrug. "It's like a wilderness lodge in the movies."

Benny thought it was cool, in a really old-school way. Erica considered it a dump. As for Sarah, she was too kind hearted to be a hunter for skins and antlers.

"It's old" Roger explained to Sarah, at her disapproving look at the bearskin rug. "There's strict limits now. If you're not Inuit, hunting polar bear costs about twenty-grand. Besides, there aren't really any polar bears around here anymore. You need to go a lot further north. Ever thought of going hunting, Erica?"

"Not for animals" said Erica impatiently.

And at that, Ethan couldn't help but growl. And everybody else looked irritably at Erica.

"I don't think that's funny" Roger observed.

* * *

The front desk was a brilliantly varnished wooden counter. The place might have been the same decades ago, except for the computer and the phone sitting in a corner.

Roger tapped the old-style bell.

A thin woman with greying blonde hair appeared. It was obviously Roger's mother, although he was dark and she was fair there was a good deal of resemblance in their features.

"All here to fill in for Parks" Roger said.

He went to kiss his mother on the cheek, but found himself with a punch in the nose hard enough to make him bleed.

"Is this about last semester's grades?" Roger asked, stunned, as he put tissue paper to his bloody nose.

"Get away" said the woman. "Just because I'm here by myself doesn't mean I'm going to allow some young guy to maul me."

"But . . . I'm Roger" said Roger. "You know, Roger Latour."

"So you have the same surname as me" she said sternly. "What gives you the right?"

"I'm . . . your . . . son" said Roger. "Is something . . . are you okay?"

"I have no son" said Ms. Latour, angrily. "What are you trying to pull? Is this some sick joke? Are you five . . . _with him_?"

"Uh, yes, we are" volunteered Rory.

"Then GET . . . OUT!" ordered Ms. Latour. "Or I'll call the police in. I don't know what you're trying to pull here."

Team Sabre plus Erica looked at Roger astonished.

"I swear, she's my Mom!" he said excitedly. "Where's Harry . . . Harry Parks, the handyman?"

"He's in the hospital, _not that it's any business of yours_ " said Ms. Latour.

"I know Mom . . . ." said Roger.

"Don't you dare call me that."

"Okay . . . ma'am" said Roger. "But his broken leg was set. You said his healing back here and you need me until he's back on his feet."

"Well, he's back in the hospital with acute appendicitis. And, don't pretend I asked _you_ here to fill in for that lummox! I wouldn't be surprised if you were actually one of _his_ friends playing a joke on me."

"But Mom!"

"I told you not to call me that you . . . ."

"This has Stephanie written all over it" observed Sarah.

"Come on Roger, dude" said Benny. "Let's go outside. We'll update you."

"Why?" he said. "What's Stephanie got to do with this?"

"Stephanie's out for the day" said Ms. Latour. " _Not that it's any business of yours_."

"Of course" said Benny sardonically. "Yeah, she's out alright."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not leaving!" Roger exclaimed. "You call the police Mom! The OPP from across the river. Or the First Nations police from the reserve. I don't care who! They'll all tell you who I am!"

Ms. Latour stepped towards the safe.

"THAT's THE FINAL STRAW!" she roared.

"I'm going" said Roger in an anguished voice, as he looked warily at the safe. "You wouldn't?"

"I would" she said.

"Even if I wasn't who I said I was, isn't that . . . extreme?" asked Roger.

"No" said Ms. Latour.

Ethan looked at the safe. Guessing by his late experience with Malcolm's evil twin, and the trophies on the wall, it was obvious what was locked in there. The rifle (or handgun's) ammunition must have also been nearby.

 _Your own mother not knowing you, and threatening to shoot you, that was the next worst thing to your mom being turned into a zombie and trying to eat you. Or your mom being turned into a witch and then her turning you into a frog!_

* * *

The six made a hasty retreat to the _Challenger_ , with the uneasy feeling that Ms. Latour was still watching them. Roger signalled them round a corner of the building, and in a door out of view of the hotel ushered them into the garage.

It was empty save for a rusty Chevy Blazer.

"No _Range Rover_ " Ethan growled.

He didn't even bother trying to correct his voice. Ethan even, in an un-Ethanlike gesture, kicked the side of the wall.

"I don't know what to say" started Roger. "Not about the car . . . my Mom and . . . ."

"Roger" said Ethan, recovering himself with a sigh. "Um . . . this is hard. But, do you believe in witches?"

"Witches who makes deals with the devil to stay young forever" said Benny.

"And get revenge on those that saved the school from her _ee-vil_ magic powers?" concluded Rory.

"This is going to be good" Erica gloated, who leaned against the wall, watching.

 _For someone who didn't know what to say, Roger used a good deal of colourful language in which to say it._

"Roger, just _shut-up_ " said Sarah angrily. "Benny, take off your sunglasses."

Benny, with a frown, obliged and looked at Roger.

"Stephanie turned me into a zombie" Benny explained, as if were the most simple and obvious thing in the world.

"A zombie! A zombie! Yeah, sure. Those are special contacts" scoffed Roger.

"Well, there's an old school way of proving a zombie" Benny said. "Even a counterfeit like me. I get stuck and I don't bleed. I just have to find something to stick into me."

Rory looked into a nearby tool box, but it only had a set of screwdrivers. Roger angrily slammed it shut, almost catching Rory's fingertips.

"Now I've seen everything" Roger growled himself, in the human-sense of the term "growl".

"Never mind Benny; have Ethan howl!" said Erica, crossing her arms. "There's enough dogs in town to take it up and prove there's something about him."

"NO!" Ethan said.

"A werewolf howl is what we need now" insisted Erica.

"I'd sooner join the dark side" said Ethan. "Not again, not again in front of . . . ."

"Ethan, you want to make sure it doesn't get worse than howling" observed Sarah, giving a heartfelt look into his face with deep sincerity. "It doesn't make you any less of a human being."

Ethan gave her a part-sad, part-appreciative look.

"Dude, you've got to make it that howl impressive as you can" said Benny, as he put his glasses back on.

"I want to hear this" said Rory. "I missed the last couple times. I mean, dude, sorry, but as long as you're a werewolf."

"I should have taken more photos of you where you didn't show up, Rory" Ethan retorted. "You know, back when you were a vampire."

"Dude, I was just saying . . . ."

"I know, buddy" said Ethan, with a rueful laugh as his slapped Rory on the shoulder. "If it wasn't me, I'd want to hear a real . . . ."

"Howl away" said Roger, sarcastically. "Any boy scout or mole scout or cub scout can do it."

"Just listen to my best friend howl" said Benny.

Ethan hesitated. But he obliged.

 _The fact that every husky, malemute, Labrador, and Newfoundland dog in town took it up in a ferocious echo turned Ethan's face a bright red. The fact that Ethan was sure a few poodles and Chihuahuas from Moosonee chimed in too only added insult to injury. That didn't include the many house-cats Ethan felt sure were hissing._

Roger stood staring with his mouth open. He had never heard anything like that. _Real wolf_ howls didn't cause that reaction!

* * *

Sarah explained, briefly, that Stephanie was a witch that had tried to steal the souls of everyone in the school. And Benny and Ethan had been cursed as punishment.

"I think I know what will break the curse on your mother" said Ethan. "Holy water."

"If it didn't freeze" Roger pointed out.

The small barrel the holy water had been carried in had been insulated like a thermos; not to mention being carried safely inside all morning and afternoon. So, giving Roger the honours of handling the water pistol, the six armed but definitely not dangerous to any non-evil and non-supernatural foe, entered the hotel from an entrance leading from the garage.

Ms. Latour had forgotten about her threat. Instead, she was dusting the lobby with an insipid and uncharacteristic smile on her face. Roger hesitated.

"You!" she said.

"Mom!" he said.

Ms. Latour received the benefit of six ice-cold jets of holy water.

To everybody's shock, she screamed as the water hit her with a sizzling sound. She fainted away.

Roger Latour dropped his pistol.

"He looks worse that Tom Towers does after he sees something" Benny said deadpan. "You really have a way with your boyfriends, Erica. Even as a human being."

"Wait!" said Ethan excitably, as he fumbled with his smart phone. "The holy water burnt her. You think it could be . . . ."

"Stephanie magically disguised!" Benny said.

 _For a moment, Team Sabre plus Erica used their smart-phones to play one spell and then another, and yet another. But the only thing that happened was Benny turned green in the face and rushed out the door and was heard barfing a day's worth of brains._

It was, in fact, Ms. Latour.

* * *

The Latours spend the afternoon at the _Weeneebayco General Hospital_ , not returning to their hotel until late that evening. Ms. Latour went straight to bed, still sick, while Roger spent some time with Erica. The two, however, soon fell into an argument, and he later lounged at the desk. That ended a day's romance.

Ethan was desolately watching the satellite-connected television. Sarah was listening to music, but not particularly enjoying it. Rory had his laptop out, but he was losing at every game he tried . . . and losing badly. He finally slammed it shut angrily.

"Stephanie left a couple days ago" Roger Latour said. "We don't know where. But she took her _Range Rover_ on the train. I'm sorry. I don't what I can say. I'd help anyway I can. Mom doesn't know exactly what happened, but you five can have rooms on the house. As for witches . . .I don't know. But in Cree a witch is called a _powakan iskwew_."

"We know" Benny told him. "Well, not the Cree word. But that Stpehanie's gone."

"I want to know what she did to my mother" said Roger. "And why the holy water burnt her."

"That's easy" said Benny.

"If it's so easy, why did you have to call your grandmother to find out?" asked Sarah.

Benny ignored her.

"It's a side effect of being under a witch's memory spell" Benny said. "At least _that_ spell. It didn't actually hurt your mom, but knocked her out as you severed the link with Stephanie. I just wish it could work as well on me and Ethan, but our curses are way more deep than that."

"Parks' appendicitis and broken leg wasn't natural, was it?" asked Roger.

"No" said Benny. "You'd have to be _really dumb_ to think that."

Roger glared at Benny for a moment and tightened a fist, but decided to drop the issue.

"I guess you would. You're our guests until we leave. I don't know what I can do for you Benny. But maybe we can get a moose brain for you to eat?"

"No, dude" said Benny impatiently.

"If you can't get cured, Ethan, I think I know a few hunting camps where he'd fit in as a guide. I know a few that would pay top salary if you use those werewolf powers working as a guide. I can teach you how to use a rifle and you'll be all set for life, buddy. Maybe even start your lodge?"

"No way" said Ethan coldly.

"I know how you feel. Moose Factory gets boring really quick. But if there's anything else I can do for you, you name it, I'll try. For starters. I've reserved a place on the train for your car, tomorrow at five. Maybe you ask for her down in Cochrane?"

"Stephanie can be anywhere by now" Ethan said dejectedly. "She must have been tipped off when I called up you mother."

"And she'll be even further away after we're stuck up here another day" Rory said, to groans all around (except Ethan).

"Who would have thought she had taken over the front desk?" said Sarah. "Look, watching tv isn't going to help you, Ethan. We can at least look at the Ontario roadmap."

Benny, who never bothered to learn map-reading outside of video games, took over the television set control from Ethan.

* * *

The Ontario _Ministry of Transportation_ published a fold-out map, with Canada's second-largest province divided onto two sides. Southern Ontario, on one side, was criss-crossed by roads and cities. But the Northern Ontario side was mostly empty, white space and blue water. Northern Ontario's few major highways, dominated by the twisted cross-province (and cross-country) routes, twisted through the rocky domain. The railroad to Moosonee was marked off as a spur from the highway network to just below James Bay. And to the northwest? Past a couple of offshoots to Red Lake and Pickle Lake, there were no roads in that part of the province.

"At least we know she didn't go up there" said Sarah.

"Unless she flew a broomstick" suggested Rory.

"This is real life, Rory" said Ethan. "Witches don't ride broomsticks."

"What about Benny's floating spell?"

"You can't go that far on the spell" called out Benny from across the room.

Eventually Team Sabre gave up. For all they knew, Stephanie could have driven out to the nearest major airport and flown (by plane) down to Florida.

* * *

"Wish you'd get her" said Roger. "Not only for you, but for us. Not only did Stephanie place a spell on my Mom, she's also ruined a month's worth of business. Stephanie had my Mom cancel all our reservations and pretend to be filled up. I wish I could charge her credit card for the whole hotel . . . .

Roger Latour went into a formal, businesslike tone . . . .

"Dining room is closed for lunch and supper until further notice. I can give you the name of places in town if you're interested in a late supper. We _do_ have a free continental breakfast from seven to nine a.m. in the morning. Here are the keys to rooms 3, 5 and 9. Two doubles and a single. Sarah . . . . Erica's already taken Room 3."

* * *

Sarah went upstairs. Rory too, took to his own room. After a play of rock, paper, scissors he took Room 9 for himself. Rory squeezed into the tiny washroom to take a shower and brush his teeth. Yawning, and nearly stubbing his toe on the vanity as he left, he stopped at his window to look at the brilliant green sky for awhile.

"A dog-sled ride would really be a _wesome_ " Rory said to himself, thinking of "mushing" them forward. " _Or flying a ski-plane_. But we're leaving tomorrow."

Rory called home ("I'm sure you'll be able to keep up on your homework" his father told him) and went to bed.

* * *

"Ethan" said Roger confidentially, when Benny had yawned himself to his own room. "I have some advice for you. Tonight's a great night for the northern lights."

" _Aurora borealis_?" said Ethan. "No thanks."

"A science geek like you?" joked Roger.

"Stuck up here until tomorrow night's train, with no way to get cured" said Ethan with some warmth. "Yeah, the _aurora borealis_ is just the thing! The way I feel, I don't even want to practice with my light sabre."

Ethan ended in something of a growl.

"Man, I can't even complain properly!"

"You think your bro Benny is a pro with girls?" asked Roger, challengingly.

Ethan gave a wry look, and an contemptuous laugh.

"Well, I'm a man with _real_ experiences" Roger bragged. "Not _Be A Man_ magazine experiences. When a chick comes up here, you show her the northern lights. Even in this weather. Especially if she wants or needs you to keep her warm."

"I'll do it" said Ethan.

Ethan put on his coat, tuque and gloves again, went to Room 3, and knocked on the door.

* * *

"What is it?" asked Erica angrily. "Don't you geeks realize that because we're non-vampires now we have to get some sleep. First Rory texting us good night, then Benny calling, now you banging on the door!"

"It's really early!" insisted Ethan.

"I'm loving getting my full night's sleep" said Sarah, from behind the door. "Any problem Ethan?"

"I thought, before that, you might want to go with me and see the _aurora borealis_ " said Ethan.

"I'd there, Ethan" said Sarah. "I can't miss that."

"You two can't be serious" said Erica.

* * *

In spite of the minus twenty degree cold, Sarah and Ethan walked down to the river to see the green shimmering ribbon in the sky reflected on the ice and snow. Ethan had to swallow a few times at first, as the nearly-full moon was also reflected. Nothing could remove romance from a scene like a werewolf howling.

As it was, actual wolves were howling somewhere on the mainland far in the distance. Which from Ethan's view was worse. He felt his ears were tensed up from the noise.

"It's a great night to keep warm" said Ethan, a bit awkwardly as he put his arms around Sarah.

 _That_ kicked out the werewolf instincts and made him feel much better.

"It's just too bad you can _best_ enjoy this without a curse on you" Sarah said.

"What am I going to do?" asked Ethan with a sigh.

"We still have until the seventeenth" Sarah replied.

But there's no way now of finding her" said Ethan. "If we were the police . . . if we were the police . . . we could. _**I could! We could!**_ It's . . . criminal. Very criminal. But it's not as if we're doing it for the wrong reasons. Not really for a criminal reason. And I might be able to pull off the hack. And no _actually committed_ werewolf could ever do that . . . _ **only me!**_ "

"What?" Sarah asked.

"Roger Latour promised to do anything for us" said Ethan, in excitement. "We can get into his computer. WE can get Stephanie's birth date from Benny's grandmother."

Sarah looked at Ethan's eyes, that were lighted up as of old.

In a move more like Rory than Ethan, he literally jumped onto the front porch of the old hotel.

"You get it, Sarah" Ethan said eagerly. "Don't you? We can follow her anywhere now! We can trace her anywhere she goes."

Sarah finally understood. With Ethan, she said at once . . . .

"We can get her credit card number!"


	25. The Secret of the Alamanac

**The Secret of the Almanac**

Ethan and Sarah wasted no time in entering the hotel. They burst in so quickly, they left Roger Latour again staring in surprise.

* * *

Latour had been yawning at the hotel desk, waiting for the hotel computer to shutdown. He had been staring worriedly at a screen that showed a long stretch ahead of the hotel being completely vacant, courtesy of Stephanie.

 _That witch_ turned one guy into a werewolf, another guy into a zombie, put a spell on his Mom (that nearly had her shoot her own son). Icing on the cake? She might finish by bankrupting them!

But, what does an evil witch care about that? Stephanie seemed to have damaged the Latour's business and put a spell on Roger's mother as much out of spite as hopes of making a quick getaway!

It occurred to Roger, again, that he would probably be justified in charging Stephanie's credit card to the hilt for what she had done. But he was scrupulously honest; he sure wasn't a thief, and if they were caught . . . well, you couldn't defend yourself by saying a witch did it.

* * *

So that was why, when Ethan asked point-blank for Stephanie's credit card number, Roger Latour challenged him.

"Look bro" he started impatiently, only moving along the way to a more sympathetic tone. "I promised to do anything I could. But not this! Maybe Stephanie hasn't done me as much as you . . . there's no maybes about it! I couldn't imagine going through what you're going through . . . _'cause before 2:30 this afternoon I didn't know there actually were such things as werewolves!_ Look, if we commit credit card fraud my Mom's sure to lose the hotel and go to jail. Now, believe it or not, if I keep my grades up they're enough to put me into med school. Now, for credit card fraud I _might_ only go to jail for a _short_ time, but it's a good reason to stamp reject on any chance of mine to be a doctor."

"You look" growled Ethan, now yellow eyed to Latour's now bugged-with-astonishment eyes.

"Yellow eyes, Ethan" said Sarah impatiently. "I'm getting tired of playing peacemaker."

"Uh" said Ethan, still in a growl. He covered his eyes with his hands, and he gave a nervous joke. "With your karate, you can really be a peacemaker?"

"Only if I need to" smiled Sarah, then turned to Roger. "He can't help the yellow eyes."

"Oh!" said Roger, as that was all he could say.

"Sometimes I can" said Ethan defensively, whose eyes again had lost their glow. "It's the curse on me."

"Weird how it warps your personality" said Roger thoughtfully. "But, bro, I can't give up my Mom's business. You'll have to talk to her about it and _explain_ everything."

"We don't need or want Stephanie's credit card number to steal her money" said Sarah. "We want to track her down."

There was moment's pause.

" _I freaking get it_!" said Roger, who now pushed the computer's on-button. "Unless she travels in cash you'll know wherever she goes."

"Not only that" said Ethan. "But I may be able to use it to hack into her bank account as well, so we'll catch every time she uses her bank card to pay or something or even make a cash withdrawal."

"But why would a witch pay for anything?" asked Roger. "She put my mother under a spell to make her getaway?"

Ethan and Sarah thought a moment.

"It's easier" suggested Sarah, leaning against the desk. "Just because she can cast spells on everyone doesn't mean it's a good idea."

"Think about it Rogers" said Ethan, wryly. "A line of gas station attendants, waiters and hotel clerks across the country. Someone's going to notice a line of enchanted people."

"Okay" said Roger, going to the computer and printing off a sheet. "Stephanie's credit card number, used to reserve her room."

"If it'll help with the empty hotel" said Sarah. "We can chip in and pay for our rooms."

"Thanks" said Roger, gratefully. "It'll keep us afloat."

"I hope Malcolm doesn't find out that we gave Rory his own room" joked Ethan. "But there's another reason we can't charge Stephanie. If she finds out we're using her credit card, she'll cancel it and there goes our tail. But if we can get into her online screen it will be even easier . . . do you think she does online banking? She's as old as Mrs. Weir. Sarah, you spent time with her as a cheerleader?"

"Stephanie is more like Jesse than Anastasia" said Sarah, with a shrug. "Any witch who spends her time in high school might forget about call display but would need to use a computer."

"Could you imagine Anastasia using a laptop?" said Ethan, grinning at Sarah.

"In that darkened council room, with the torches?" asked Sarah.

Sarah giggled at the idea, and Ethan burst out laughing.

"Maybe she did" said Ethan. "How else would she know who Baddington was?"

"Who the heck is Anastasia?" asked Roger.

"She was the head of the Vampire Council" said Ethan. "An evil little girl vampire who was hundreds of years old before she was finally killed."

"Your home town sounds like a freakin' _Monster Mash_ " said Roger. "Wait a minute . . . how old is that Rory?"

"Sixteen, like me" said Ethan bluntly.

"Didn't you say he used to be a vampire?"

"For just under two years worth" Ethan explained, and avoiding looking at Sarah, "A couple of my friends were turned against their will into vampires. It took awhile to cure them. But they're all as human as I . . . _was a couple weeks ago_."

Ethan ended with a depressed air. Sarah put her hand atop his.

* * *

Hacking into Stephanie's account was the most serious piece of computer work Ethan had ever attempted. Even tracking the mutant crocodiles by decrypting Erica's the cell phone information was _nothing_ compared to this. A bank's firewall was made to hold.

Before he even began, Ethan was desperate to get Stephanie's date of birth. It would help Ethan get into her account, as banks used birthdays to confirm identity.

Ethan used his own laptop, to give the Latour's some plausible deniability of being involved in the crime. Ethan himself tried not to think about what would happen if he were caught, arrested, denied bail, and in jail for the full moon . . . .

Roger, who stayed up to watch the proceedings, rang Benny from the desk. And rang him again. Benny woke up, but put his head under his pillow. Roger rang him a third time. Benny took the phone off the hook. Finally, Roger went up to pound on the door.

* * *

"I don't see why you need me to call up grandma" Benny complained, as he finally walked downstairs.

"I need you to tell her why we want Stephanie's birth-date" Ethan said, as he repeated the plan.

"I'm in" said Benny, grinning. "But you're going to have to back me up."

"Why?" asked Ethan.

"Grandma might think I want to raid the card. Like I'd _actually_ do that!"

* * *

Benny had hesitated before calling his grandmother, as he doubted she'd like to be bothered this late. But this was important, and for matters like this Mrs. Weir didn't mind.

Evelyn was impressed (although slightly concerned) with Ethan's plan. She was sure she never would have thought of it! And holding on the line, she said she didn't have to look it up. She remembered distinctly that Stephanie's birthday was February 29th.

"Whoa!" said Rory. "That's the absolute worst day to be born. You only get a real birthday every four years."

Rory had been buzzed by Benny, and had taken up his post; lying half-asleep on the lobby sofa munching on garlic cloves as a midnight snack. Rory was moderately annoyed that Roger had examined his reflection through a hand-held mirror. But then Rory figured, as long as he, Rory, had a reflection, he should be happy!

"Good luck, kids" said Evelyn. "So long as you remember it isn't your money or Stephanie's either. And Benny . . . _don't forget_!"

Benny nodded, he knew "don't forget" was a message for him. And didn't have anything to do with Stephanie's money.

* * *

Erica soon ambled down to see what happened to Sarah (Ethan turned from the computer long enough to wonder what Erica _had thought_ was going on). Erica didn't say, only that she didn't want to waste the night watching a credit card account get hacked.

* * *

Other than Ethan, Benny was the only one who knew a thing about hacking. Rory's knowledge in the area extended to looking for pirated downloads, and even that much was a mystery to Sarah and Latour.

So, it wasn't all that interesting for Rory, Sarah and Roger to see Ethan type and click for hours on end.

As for Benny, he himself leant back in a chair, musing.

Benny had, with a sinking feeling, realized it was the early morning of Friday the Fifteenth of November. Benny couldn't dodge showing Ethan the _Farmer's Almanac_ much longer. But if they had a _killer clue_ . . . . Benny could at least wait until after Ethan hacked into Stephanie's account.

* * *

Ethan was at it for awhile. Enough for everybody else, including Benny, to doze off.

First, Ethan guarded his presence online. Then through some digital manoeuver, he secretly used the card number to discover which bank he was after. A bit of luck! Like his own account it was at the venerable _Bank of Hamilton_ (a few months before, Ethan had foiled a supernatural plot to rob the bank's downtown Toronto branch).

"If they knew everything, they'd be all for my hacking into her account" Ethan said to himself.

Now came the hard part! Digitally breaking into the bank's firewall. But he eventually made it past the encryption, and discovered Stephanie's password ("1HotCheerleader!")

"If she's sold her soul" Ethan mused. "She'll be hot in a different way than she expects. _**I'M IN!**_ "

This woke up everybody but Benny . . . who was shaken awake by the ever-loyal Rory.

By now, Ethan had logged into Stephanie's account, and been the subject of high fives and claps on the shoulders all round

 _Stephanie's personal banking menu was on the screen before them._

"Credit card and chequing accounts" said Ethan, who rested his hands on the back of his head. "Both of them are ours to see."

"I don't think she has $100,000 in her chequing account from portioning out garlic pasta in the cafeteria" Sarah said grimly.

"It's just good that she doesn't try and carry that around in cash" said Ethan.

 _Ethan went to the credit card account first, and looked for the recent transactions._

Stephanie had taken the train out the very night they had arrived in Cochrane. But she hadn't stopped in Cochrane!

"That's the price of carrying your car down to Cochrane . . . plus a ticket to Fraserdale" said Roger incredulously as he looked at the listings. "How the heck did she get the railroad to unload her car at Fraserdale? They never do that. I don't even think they have the equipment there to do it."

"She must have hexed them into doing it" said Benny. "But what makes you so sure it's Fraserdale?"

"Because I know how much a ticket to Fraserdale costs" said Roger. "I've seen people ask for it at the station. Fraserdale is the most northernly point on the railine you can get to by road from the rest of the province. Once in a while we get some _mental_ tourist who thinks they'll save a few dollars by skipping Cochrane. They decide to drive seventy-five kilometres up a dead-end highway to the shed that passes for the Fraserdale station. It's also a jumping-off place for canoe trips here, but at least when you go to Fraserdale for a wilderness trip, it actually makes sense."

"She obviously expected us to be in Cochrane" said Sarah.

"That was close! We're lucky she skipped Cochrane" said Rory.

"Why?" said Ethan, swallowing a growl.

" _Dude!_ " said Rory. "Can you imagine how you'd feel if she had spent a couple hours stranded at the station while we were a block away?"

Ethan had to admit it made sense. It would have been unbelievably bad to be slacking at the _Imperial Hotel_ while Stephanie had been in Cochrane.

After Fraserdale, Stephanie had driven back to Highway 11 at the Town of Smooth Rock Falls and bought gas. Then, finally, there was a entry for something called "631LDGCAFGSBR" in Hearst. It was priced at nearly $200.00. And it was dated last night.

" _Ldgicafgsbr_?" quizzed Benny.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't much make sense" said Ethan, going to the chequing account. "While she was in Hearst, Stephanie withdrew $500.00 a day before. Then she uses he credit card a day later."

Sarah took out the road map.

"Like I said, you can't get everything from computers" said Sarah. "Look here, to the west of Hearst."

"There's nothing west of Hearst" said Roger Latour. "Just 120 miles . . . 210 kilometres . . . of wilderness until you cross the main CN line in Longlac. I don't even think there's a gas station left operating on that stretch."

"What about this highway, going down to Hornepayne and White River" said Sarah. "631?"

Ethan looked away from the computer.

"631" he reasoned. "That must be Highway 631. Ldge is Lodge. Ca is café or cafeteria. And Gs?"

"Gas station and bar" suggested Benny.

"Or Gas bar" said Ethan.

"Gas station _and_ bar is cooler" said Benny.

Ethan opened another window on his computer, and typed in "631 Lodge Cafeteria Gas Bar." And sure enough, that was the name of the place that appeared just to the west of the corner of Highway 11 and 631. The service station had a Hearst address, because Hearst was the nearest community to that out-of-the-way spot.

"Licensed establishment" Benny observed. "So they do sell beer. Maybe, with the fireworks, we can celebrate tomorrow our victory over Stephanie?"

"It's not as if we're nineteen" Sarah pointed out. "They won't sell it to you."

Benny, to himself, muttered something about the hypocrisy of people who spent almost two years drinking blood or blood substitutes criticising him for wanting to order a drink from a bar.

"I don't really care" said Ethan. "Just so long as Stephanie hasn't moved on by the time we get there. If she hasn't . . . I'll be completely human again tomorrow evening, with over a day to spare."

"The full moon?" asked Roger Latour, who glanced at the calendar.

"Yeah, the full moon" said Ethan.

That, again, had Benny thinking of the secret of the _Farmer's Almanac_.

* * *

Everyone went to bed, and woke up to the continental breakfast . . . held-over past nine o'clock by the grateful Roger Latour. His mother was resting in bed; but would be up and around the next day. Roger assured them but if they needed him to guide them along the ice road to the mainland he'd be able to make a hike.

* * *

Latour took Ethan to the kitchen with him. He silently handed him a package of bacon, and looked away while Ethan ate them raw like liquorice sticks.

"I also warmed up Benny's chicken heads" he said solemnly. "Man, when you guys get cured, send me an email or text. It would sure help my peace of mind."

* * *

Raw pork and gooey chicken brains aside, the food was better than expected. Mostly because before breakfast was finished, Harry Pound had returned from his magically-induced appendicitis. He was a lean old man, bald as an egg. He was the resident jack-of-all-trades in the off-season. The cast on his leg was coming off in a week, and he assured Latour he could handle most of his usual work at the hotel.

It didn't, at least, interfere with the buckwheat pancakes with Saskatoon berry syrup, which were a speciality of the house.

* * *

After breakfast, Roger Latour drove his mother's rusty Chevy Blazer over to Moosonee, picked up supplies and make enquiries. From a friend who had went straight to work for the railroad after high school, Roger discovered that an entire train crew had, in fact, been in trouble for delaying the _Polar Bear Express_ at Fraserdale to let an "amazing chick" detrain _with her Range Rover_.

"Good luck" said Latour, as Team Sabre finally left the _Riverside Inn_ that afternoon at three. Rory had just taken a group shot with his camera on timer mode, although Erica couldn't be convinced to cooperate or even to take the photo.

"We'll see you buddy" said Ethan, as Team Sabre minus Erica shared a high-five.

"Moose River ice road, here we go" said Sarah cheerily, as Ethan squeezed into the back seat again with his friends.

* * *

The train didn't leave for Cochrane until five o'clock. After nightfall. Looking up, Ethan frowned to see that the moon looked completely full now. He hurried on the train without looking up again.

Benny also looked up at the moon as he went on the train.

"I've got to tell Ethan" he said bitterly.

* * *

The moon was hidden by some clouds as the train went underway. About the time the train had again reached the thick boreal forest, Team Sabre plus Erica enjoyed a full dinner in the dining car while speeding through the dark woods.

Then, it being yet another long day; and it being agreed they would this time drive during the night, come what may; the five of them half-dozed as the train gently rocked back and forth.

Ethan, Sarah, Benny and Rory had sat together once again.

"It would be a lot cooler travelling" Ethan observed to Sarah, "without counterfeit curses and witches. Maybe . . . we'll get to someday?"

"Maybe not Moose Factory, but somewhere" said Sarah. "Where would you like to go?"

"I . . ." started Ethan, but he was interrupted.

"I'm bored Sarah" complained Erica. "There's no one to talk to on this train"

"You can talk to me" volunteered Rory.

"I'm thinking a girl talk with my BFF" said Erica. "Sarah can't talk to you lumber jerks all the time.

"I'll be back later, Ethan" said Sarah, putting her arm around him as she stood up and went to the other end of the car.

Benny watched Sarah leave, and was uncharacteristically silent. This was his chance. _Ethan had to know and soon._

* * *

Ethan and Rory were both surprised to see Benny take out a copy of _The Ye Olde Canadian Farmer's Almanac For Country Folks and City Slickers_.

"What's that for?" asked Ethan.

"A _Farmer's Almanac?_ " scoffed Rory. "Lame-o!"

" _Lame-o_ is lame-o" Benny retorted.

"The _Farmer's Almanac_ doesn't have _real_ weather forecasts" said Rory indignantly. "I can get the forecast from the _Environment Canada_ website? If you're really interested in the weather."

"I'm not interested in the weather" Benny said.

"Then why do you have the _Farmer's Almanac_ out?" asked Ethan.

"Ethan" said Benny in a low tone, "if I hadn't been your best friend I wouldn't have kept this from you. Frack, Ethan, Grandma told me it was for the best."

"Kept _what from me?_ " said Ethan, whose voice fell right into a growl.

"You, er, can't lose it on the train" said Benny. "Keep it cool."

"What?" asked Rory.

Benny opened the almanac to a page with a folded corner. The year's full moon phases and dates and times of full moons.

It never occurred to Ethan that the moon was full at a specific date _ **and time**_. Calendars always mark the day of the full moon. But they never care about the time. And why was the time important? It told what night the moon is _actually full_!

The moon would be full November 17, at 10:16 am. During the light of day.

"If the moon is full before sunrise" Benny explained, "it's the night it's full, the night of the sixteenth ending when the sun rises on the seventeenth. If the moon is full after sunset, it's that night, the night of the seventeenth ending when the moon rises on the eighteenth."

"And 10:16 in the morning?" asked Ethan tensely.

"If it happens during the day" Benny said, in an awkward tone, "it's the night of the waxing not the waning moon. The night the moon's _almost full_ , and has built up its full _occult_ powers. I mean, sailors know about it . . . because of tides."

" _Frack the tides_ " said Ethan with a deep growl, as he slapped a hand over his now brilliantly glowing yellow eyes.

Benny and Rory cringed at the tone of the growl.

"But with you, dude" Benny continued awkwardly, "The moment the sun goes down tomorrow night, the night of the sixteenth, you're under the full moon's power."

Ethan put on Rory's old sunglasses, as his eyes continued burning yellow. But he managed to keep back the growl. He was angry. But his conscious held on. Barely.

"It's not their fault" Ethan thought. "I would have felt even worse if I knew I had one less day.

Ethan swallowed. One day left! No wait, not even that. It was . . . .

"Ethan! Buddy, that's less than twenty-four hours!" Rory quavered. "It's twenty-two hours and counting down."

"Not helping, Rory" said Ethan weakly. "Not helping!'


	26. Countdown to a Nightmare

**Countdown to a Nightmare**

The train didn't go as fast as the teens might have wished. The _Polar Bear Express_ again stopped at a few of the flag-stops along the line, including Fraserdale. While Ethan simply looked out onto the moonlit shed with annoyance, Benny decided he _hated_ Fraserdale with a vengeance.

"I wish Erica wouldn't talk so much to Sarah" Ethan said impatiently. "Do you think she's came along just to break us up . . . again?"

"Naa" said Benny. "This is just Erica being . . . Erica."

Rory had dozed off.

Eventually Sarah retook her seat, within the last leg of the trip to Cochrane. Ethan, like Benny, was conspicuously wearing sunglasses in spite of the dark night outside.

"Okay" Sarah said, as she looked at Ethan's grim face. "What's up?"

"Full moon" said Ethan tersely, with a glare at Benny. "Tomorrow night."

"It's Sunday night" said Sarah.

"It's an almanac thing" said Ethan, and again looked toward Benny.

Benny duly explained, and found to his discomfort Sarah looking at him furiously.

"Grandma told me to give him a break" Benny said defensively. "It wouldn't have helped Ethan to know he had one less day than he thought! What were we going to do? Push back the full moon a couple days?"

"Can you do that?" asked Rory.

"It's about a three and a half hour drive to Highway 631" said Sarah musingly, to Ethan. "You have until past five o'clock in the afternoon. If she's there, we'll get her."

"You know, dude, third time's the charm" offered Benny.

"Yeah, third time" said Ethan, with the slightly smile. "We missed her at her condo, we missed her in Moose Factory, we should get her at the 637 Lodge. It's her last bill."

Ethan put his hand around Sarah and smiled.

"Third time lucky" he joked.

"Boss level" said Benny wryly.

" _What?_ " asked Sarah.

"The level of the video game where you fight the boss of the game" said Ethan. "The final level."

"Yeah" said Benny. "The 631 Lodge _has to be_ the boss level."

Sarah was silent, as "third time lucky" or "third times the charm" sounded like a weak-enough argument.

Rory wrinkled his brows. Something didn't seem right. He gathered his usually scattered-thoughts.

"But it's not the third time" Rory said. "We already knew Stephanie wouldn't be at her condo, only Malcolm's evil twin. This is really only the second time."

There was a pause as everyone's hopes deflated.

"Just shut up" said Ethan, with a whine.

"Don't shoot the messenger, dude" muttered Rory .

"It's still the last place she used her credit card" Sarah pointed out. "It should be the place."

* * *

The train didn't reach Cochrane until well past ten o'clock. Benny went to see about getting the car keys, while everyone else went to the waiting room. Sarah whispered something into Ethan's ear, and went to talk to Erica.

"She said she'd tell Erica about the full moon" Ethan told Rory, as the two went to snack machine.

"You want salt and vinegar potato chips?" said Rory. "Or . . . ."

"Beef jerky" said Ethan.

* * *

Sarah had the suspicion that, in spite of her BFF's promise, Erica would be less than upset to know that Ethan's time was nearly up . . . at least when it came to avoiding tomorrow night's full moon.

"I knew you'd enjoy this too much" said Sarah, as she examined Erica's smile. "I can't believe I have to keep Ethan.

"I _said_ I'd help him so he wouldn't suffer" said Erica. "If he changed his mind about being a werewolf, you couldn't really say he's suffering. And if you really wanted to be his girlfriend, you'd accept that. In _Dusk V_ . . . ."

"I'm going to see where Benny is with that car" said Sarah abruptly.

Erica followed Sarah out the door in the sub-zero night, curiously. There was the sound of several angry voices on the platform. And a police siren in the air.

* * *

While Ethan was waiting impatiently in the station, he had watched Sarah tell Erica the "secret of the almanac". He had heard very little, as straining to hear had immediately put his werewolf hearing and scent into play. And a late night railroad waiting room was a miserable place to have that reaction.

Once he had his mind again under control, Ethan really didn't like the smile that played on Erica's face, and her studying look at him. As if he was going to turn into a werewolf before their eyes that very night.

"Instead of tomorrow night" said Ethan miserably.

"I guess you're right about her wanting to live in Dusk" said Rory with disgust. "Instead of something awesome like _Star Wars, Star Trek_ or _Battlestar Galactica_. Dude, which universe would you choose to live in? Me, _Star Trek_ all the way! It's based from our home world, buddy, exploring our galaxy through _Starfleet_."

The idea interested Ethan, but of course he had his own, well-thought answer.

But first he had to cover his ears with his hands, as the police siren seemed to drill through his skull.

"I can't believe you wouln't be a Jedi?" said Ethan. "Rory, man, you've got to think about it? It's way more cool to be fighting the Sith while using the force?"

"It's cool being a Jedi" said Rory, defensively. "But, you gotta be serious about this Ethan. With Jedi's we're talking about a galaxy a long time ago and far, far away. We're not talking about mankind reaching for the stars. We're talking about lifeforms in a whole other galaxy. That's why it's best to captain a spaceship in _Starfleet_."

At this point, Benny and Sarah walked in looked glum. Erica was with them, looking irritated but not really so dispirited.

Yet, the debate between Ethan and Rory distracted Benny from the issue at hand.

"Ethan's totally right" said Benny. "Being a Jedi is always best. I'd always pick living in the _Star Wars_ Universe over the _Star Trek_ Universe."

Erica looked at Sarah with a mixture of disgust and bewilderment. Sarah, in turn, simply shrugged.

But Sarah decided to play along with her geeky friends; mostly because Sarah knew Ethan would feel destroyed by the latest disaster . . . and, she knew how Ethan had left his comfort zone to learn to like Sarah's more artistic hobbies.

"I thought Benny was the big _Battlestar Galactica_ fan" said Sarah.

"Don't get me wrong" Benny explained. "It would be awesome to live in either the original or re-imagined series, and be Colonial Warriors and hang out with Apollo, Starbuck and Boomer, fly Vipers and pwn the Cylons. But I don't think I could stand our twelve home worlds being destroyed."

"Just because one fracking traitor decided to sell us out lose us the thousand yahren war by a surprise attack at the very moment we were meeting to sign the peace treaty" Rory added, indignantly.

"In _Battlestar Galactica_ " Ethan explained to Sarah and Erica, "the last battlestar leads a ragtag fleet in search of Earth."

"Like I care" said Erica. "After listening to that, I don't mind being the one to tell you our tires were slashed."

" _ **WHAT!**_ " said Ethan, in a full-throated growl.

A few people looked his way, Ethan turned beet red in embarrassment, and slumped in his chair.

"Will anybody who had their vehicle aboard the _Polar Bear Express_ please report to the luggage room" said an announcer at that moment.

At the same moment, a very confused looking man, bald and of middle age, was led away through the station in handcuffs.

"I swear" he was saying. "I don't know how or why I slashed the tires. I don't even remember doing it."

"Stephanie again" said Sarah.

"Attack of the _hypno-witch_ " muttered Benny.

"Man, poor dude" said Rory.

"Poor dude, poor me!" Ethan reminded him in a surly tone. "But . . . yeah, poor dude."

It turned out that the "poor dude" had slashed every tire of every vehicle on the train. Fourteen in all. The good news was that the railroad would pay for everybody's overnight accommodations and tire repairs or replacement. The various garages in Cochrane had been contacted and would do the work.

The bad news was . . . the garages would only open first thing in the morning.

And the spell Evelyn cast on the car wouldn't be of any help. Benny even checked with her. The car might not get stuck, but it could crash, run off the road . . . and definitely needed inflated tires to drive it.

* * *

"I can't believe it" said Ethan as he left Sarah at her room, back again at the _Imperial Hotel_. We have a Challenger with a 6.1 L Hemi engine. And we can't even get on the road."

* * *

Morning had turned into early afternoon, by the time the tires had been replaced. The slashing had been done very well. And it was 12:30 by the time their car had its tires replaced.

"Same seats" said Erica from the driver's seat, when Ethan had rejoined the rest of the gang. "I drive and Sarah takes shotgun."

Ethan hadn't wanted Sarah to see him scarf down a pound of lean, ground beef _raw_ he bought from the grocery store and charged to Malcolm.

Ethan recalled, with dread, his nearly "losing it" on the road-trip up and attacking everyone in the car. And he was on edge enough.

Ignoring Erica, Ethan took the shotgun seat.

"You _can't_ sit there" said Erica sternly.

" _I can't sit anywhere else_ " said Ethan icily.

"Then I'm not driving" said Erica.

"Then I'll drive" said Sarah, reaching for the keys. She ignored Erica's furious expression. This meant Erica found herself choosing whether to sit beside Benny or Rory.

Erica chose Benny, but for someone who used to drink blood she continued to act disgusted enough when Benny threw a chicken head or two into his mouth. Or passed Ethan a ground-brain sausage.

The drive west on Highway 11 went slowly for Ethan, who found he couldn't concentrate on his laptop. He couldn't even get past the first level of _Conquer the Solar System_! Ethan was uninterested in the scenery, as they passed several clay belt farms and a few small towns, such as Smooth Rock Falls, Kapaskasing and Mattice.

* * *

The sky soon became overcast and scattered flurries drifted from the dark sky.

Ethan briefly cheered up as an idea came to his mind.

"What if it's cloudy tonight?" he asked Benny

"Unless we run into Stephanie, you still turn into a werewolf" Benny said casually. "Clouds don't shield you. It doesn't work that way."

"How come? It should" said Rory. "Like . . . in _Pirates of the Carribean_."

"It's not the same at all" said Sarah, who had enjoyed the movie. "Moonlight made them look like skeletons because the curse they were under made that their true form, or something like that."

"Uh" said Benny. "It sort of is. Full moon monster mode for werewolves is equivalent to fang-and-yellow eyes for vamps. The occult power of the moon exposes the curse on them."

"Thanks, Benny" said Ethan sarcastically. "I needed to know that."

"Seriously?" scoffed Erica. " _Pirates of the Carribean_?"

"You used to like it. Especially, the love story" Sarah needled her.

* * *

Two o'clock in the afternoon brought Team Sabre to Hearst. A small town of 5,000, it was almost entirely French speaking. Sarah's French was very good, still being enrolled in the subject in Grade 12. She decided to practice at the gas station with the woman who filled the tank.

The woman smiled warmly, with concern she said " _Je vous suggère de rester en ville. Vous ne pouvez pas aller à Thunder Bay ce soir. Il y a un blizzard sur les rives du lac Supérieur. L'autoroute est impassable après Nipigon._ "

" _Merci pour le conseil. Mais nous . . . allons seulement à la loge 631_ " said Sarah.

What this meant _en anglais_ was that the highway through to the City of Thunder Bay was impassable due to a snowstorm on the north shore of Lake Superior. As Team Sabre plus Erica weren't intending to go on to Thunder Bay that day, it wasn't a problem.

The sign on the far side of Hearst warned travellers that the next gas station was an hour away, at the 631 Lodge. And as Sarah drove the snow started to fall steadily on this isolated stretch of highway. There were no passenger cars now, just an occasional truck sure enough to throw a splash of slush onto the car, the newly fallen snow mixed with salt and sand.

"I'm going to put license plate number BJMV 386 on my list" complained Benny. "That creep did it on purpose.

The highway went mostly straight through this dismal section. On either side, was non-stop forest. Mile after mile. Finally, at a turn on the highway the lonely Secondary Highway 631 branched off to the south.

Sarah stopped the car. There was little to see. Highway 11 went straight ahead through the lightly falling snow. Highway 631 ended at the main highway with one stop-sign and a few green directional signs pointing back to Hearst, and the Villages of Longlac and Hornpayne.

Ethan, Benny, Rory and even Erica tried to check their phones. But it was no use. This isolated corner was in a dead zone.

"I guess we need to trust that road-sign" said Sarah.

Sure enough, around the next bend was a faded advertisement for the 631 lodge. Only a few kilometres ahead.

* * *

A few turned into nearly ten kilometres, or six miles.

631 Lodge was a few gas-pumps in front of an old-style motel with brown-wooden siding dropped onto a gravel driveway on the north side of the road. A sign pointing to "cottages" led to several ramshackle shacks with siding matching the motel. It was nearly empty, one or two cars and a transport-truck were the only sign of life.

Yet, in the middle of the forest, with a snowstorm coming on, it may have been a relief to any weary traveller. The only problem, everyone realized, was it was home to a deadly witch.

And if it wasn't, then their journey was still far from over.

Ethan that the place couldn't offer him any rest. If Stephanie was there, Ethan couldn't have enough time to stop and eat. It was nearly three o'clock.

Erica had other concerns.

"Why does Stephanie always stay at dumps that are so difficult to get too?" complained Erica, as Sarah drove into a parking space. "You'd think she'd spend her time somewhere glamorous. _If_ she did sell her soul."

"Erica's actually right" Ethan thought to himself, before adding aloud, _"I don't understand it either._ Why's she up here at all? It would be just as hard to track her if she went overseas. With a lot of other cheerleaders like she did in Whitechapel. Why's she even going up north?"

" _Hot_ cheerleaders" added Benny.

Ethan practically jumped out of the car when Sarah turned off the ignition. The warm car had again been getting to him, and the rush of cold air felt great. He could barely wait for everybody to follow.

"The Range Rover isn't here" said Sarah. "Let's search by the cabins?"

"Let's split up" said Ethan.

"Now this sounds like a _Scooby Doo_ cartoon" Erica commented, as she adjusted a pair of earmuffs. "I was hoping to meet some actual guys here."

"What do you think I am?" asked Rory.

"A lumber jerk" scoffed Erica. "I'll go with Sarah to the front desk. You three can play detective around the shacks."

"Cabins" Rory corrected, but on looking again, "Yeah, they're shacks."

* * *

Ethan, Benny and Rory went to the shacks. Each of them had holy water-guns in hand, cell phone in their pocket, and light sabre and scabbard at the side.

They slowly crept along the path. Most of the "cabins" were vacant. But one had a new Ford F-150 pickup truck in front.

"It's not a Range Rover" said Ethan. "And it has Nova Scotia plates."

" _Canada's Ocean Playground_ " read Rory.

"But we better try, dude" said Benny. "You don't want to a be a werewolf anymore than I want to be a zombie."

With trepidation, the three went up to the door. Suspiciously enough, there was a " _Do Not Disturb"_ sign on the door deep in the wilderness.

But it hadn't been locked. Just as Ethan, looking at Benny and Rory was about to open the door, a tall, unshaven man slammed it open.

"Who is it, honey?" called a woman from inside the cabin.

"Can't you read?" said the man. " _Do not disturb_. I've been driving all last night and I don't need to be waken by a group of meddling kids."

Ethan growled. The man looked at him perplexed, but looked back into the house.

"Just three idiot teens!"

"Don't take it out on them!" said the woman, who was tired-eye with mouse-brown hair.

"They should know better, they're teenagers not little kids" the man replied. "So I'll take it out on them. Even though you're the one who expects me to drive cross-country in three days."

The man's "taking it out on them" was, fortunately, only slamming the door in their faces.

"It can't be them" said Rory.

" _Ya, really!_ " Benny sneered sarcastically.

Ethan couldn't say a thing. His knees felt like shaking. Time had all but run out.

"Maybe she's in Thunder Bay" Ethan said desperately. "How long is it?"

Rory and Benny looked at Ethan. Both of them knew Ethan was out of options.

"Long enough that you'll eat us on the way" said Benny bluntly, as he slapped Ethan on the back. "Dude, you have to face it. You're stuck for the night. But tomorrow . . . _you'll be a month away from the next full moon._ "

"Sorry buddy" said Rory, glumly. "I mean, it's once. You can't get the full two to the power of ten."

Ethan took a deep breath of the cold, clear, fresh air.

"Looks like I'm going to have a bad night" Ethan joked.

But the words had nearly stuck in his mouth.

A car drove up the driveway. It was the Challenger, with Sarah at the wheel and Erica beside her. The three geeks left the path as the car drove up to the final "cabin".

Ethan, Benny and Rory wandered over.

"No luck, Ethan" said Sarah. "Stephanie left yesterday afternoon. She was probably heading west."

"I thought so" said Ethan bravely, although misery was written all over his face. "Do they have a wireless network So I can try to track them?"

Ethan looked so forlorn, it _even thawed_ Erica. She spoke almost kindly.

"Yes, they do" said Erica, crossing her arms. " _Just_ . . . do your thing, you don't have much time. We rented the cabin. There's a trail hunters take into the forest."

"We think that. . . " said Sarah, unusually awkward. "How can I say it, Ethan?"

"You . . . can take me out there and chain me up" said Ethan, forcing the words out of himself. "Where I won't cause any harm."

Sarah nodded. She wasn't given to emotional outbursts, but she hugged Ethan.

* * *

The cabin had faded wallpaper, an ancient television set with a dial and no remote . . . that only received the CBC. The sofa was lumpy, and so were the bunks in the corner.

"Top bunk" called Rory, as soon as he saw it.

The bedroom inside had two singles. There was a washroom, which was clean but Erica pronounced it disgusting.

What was weird, to Benny's idea, was the building was slightly slanted. So much so that he felt that he was slipping on the sofa.

"Do you want to do rock paper scissors for the bottom bunk?" Ethan asked Benny.

Everybody looked at Ethan.

"I forgot" Ethan replied .

Ethan opened up his laptop, and checked with the slow wi-fi. No new withdrawals or charges.

"But she took out a few hundred dollars in Hearst" said Ethan.

"There's another thing we've missed" said Erica. "Usually, at any decent hotel, you pay when you checkout."

"That'll make it tough" Benny complained. "We're always going to be at least one step behind."

"We can be following her for the rest of our lives" Rory complained. "Man, that's gonna get _boring_ after awhile."

"I don't think it'll be that long" said Sarah, optimistically. "Remember, I was under her spell for a few days. I just don't see Stephanie as forever running."

* * *

The three went to the motel's restaurant, where they had an early supper. Ethan, ordering a steak rare, hoped the meat would blunt whatever he might try to do that night.

It was now almost five o'clock. Ethan had asked Benny and Rory to chain him up.

"Like they can even _carry_ that chain" said Erica to Sarah. "I can't believe you're going to let them get away with it. _I don't_ want to carry a heavy chain into the woods, but it seems as if something you'd volunteer for. And what's with that Team Sabre crap?"

"Because I overheard Ethan talking to his posse" said Sarah, trying to get the lumps out of the sofa before she sat down. "I'm not sitting here because I don't think girls can't carry tow chain. I know that Ethan doesn't want me to see him tied up. Or worse, if they're late on the trail, see him starting to turn into a werewolf."

Ethan, did however, decide to tell Sarah one more thing before he left with Benny and Rory.

"When I get back tomorrow morning" he confessed awkwardly, "I might look . . . _wolfish_."

"Wolfish?" asked Sarah.

"Like scars" said Ethan, who looked at his feet. "It might make my ears . . . pointed, or my teeth sharp. When I turn back. Or, I might start shaving. _I can't believe it_! Until this month I was looking forward to being able to shave . . . but as a man, not as werewolf.

Sarah put her arms around Ethan and kissed him.

"I won't break up with you" she said. "Even if you look a little like a werewolf."

Ethan grinned.

But Sarah couldn't help but feel, as she went into the "cabin", that the next time she saw Ethan his sweet grin might well be fanged.

And she couldn't feel but she should have gone along as she watched Benny, Rory and Ethan struggle with the heavy tool chain.

" _Unbelievable_ " sighed Erica, looking out the window. "You would think monster hunting was something for jocks, not geeks."

* * *

Benny and Rory left Ethan with Roman handshakes and reminding him again that it was only one night.

"And you won't even be able to remember it!" said Rory, as he left.

Ethan looked past his friends. He was tied up by the foot to a fir tree, and the chain was loosely wrapped around the rest of him for good measure.

He even had a backpack hanging from the tree. How could Ethan forget that he had somehow lost all his clothes the last time he was turned into a werewolf.

It was lit brilliantly but the setting sun, as it appeared beneath the scattering cloud.

"Now I know how the Maztec Sky Queen felt" said Ethan. "I think I hate the moon as much as she did."

Ethan never felt more alone than he did now.

* * *

The mood in the cabin was sombre that night. Especially, as the cloud cover broke up and the full moon decided to shine bright. Erica didn't even bother to mention _Dusk_.

Without Ethan there, Rory and Benny wouldn't even watch _Star Wars_ . . . Ethan's all-time favourite.

So they went with a _Star Trek_ DVD. And things were so bad, not only Sarah but Erica sat and watched!

"It's insane to say this" said Sarah, after hours of listlessly watching the t.v. "But I would like this a lot better if we could at least be keeping Ethan company. You know his worst fear is being left alone."

As if on cue, a howl sounded in the distance.

"That's not a actual wolf howl" said Erica. "It's off."

"That's . . . Ethan" said Benny.

Another howl sounded closer.

"He's loose" said Sarah. "You don't think he'll come here?"

"Man" said Rory. "He's gonna be really embarrassed.

"Especially if he eats anyone" said Benny. "Humans are a werewolf's natural prey."

"Can't you morons do anything right?" asked Erica.

But Benny and Rory had chained Ethan right. Ethan had been let loose.

And again, it was Stephanie's doing. But not Stephanie in person.

 **Author's Note**

Special thanks to MBAV fan66 for giving me the idea to have Ethan, Rory and Benny argue over _Star Wars v. Star Trek v. Battlestar Galactica._


	27. Skin Deep

**Skin Deep**

After a morning's stay at the run-down _631 Lodge_ , Stephanie climbed into her Range Rover and drove the five hours down the highway to the _Thunder Bay Plaza Hotel and Spa_.

Truthfully, a _Range Rover_ wasn't her first choice. Stephanie would have preferred a "chick car". But she wanted extravagance, and she knew she'd eventually be going off road if Ethan and his friends continued their pursuit to the end.

She considered having an auto body shop paint her _Range Rover_ pink. But she realized this would be too easy to track. So she settled for a bright red.

Stephanie hadn't been having that great a time on her trip. It beat being an old lady working at the school cafeteria, but it hadn't been her heart's desire. Stephanie went for full luxury partying with other _hot_ cheerleaders like herself. Sleep-overs and practices and being at the top of the high school social pyramid. She had even dated the star athlete, David Stochowski, in his pre-weredog days.

Stephanie couldn't wait for her triumphant return to Whitechapel; when she could be the hottest cheerleader on campus, _forever_. Once she waited for Evelyn to die of natural causes, and once she disposed of the annoyance of Team Sabre and Erica.

 _But this trip to Northern Ontario had been one pain after another._

The penny-pinching young couple from Kapuskasing, who ran the _631_ , didn't appeal to her in the least. But she was there such a short time she decided not to leave any clues by casting a curse or two.

Stephanie had been embittered by staying so long at the _Riverside Inn_ (she considered it a glorified bed-and-breakfast run by two geezers). She sincerely hoped that Ms. Latour's mother would kill her own son, but looking up the news out of Moosonee and Moose Factory found no murders reported.

It was, however, to her annoyance that she found Ethan, Sarah, Rory, Erica and Benny had left the town. The tire-slashing Stephanie had ordered was carried in the news . . . and it was from _that_ Stephanie knew Team Sabre plus Erica had left.

Stephanie had hoped, that up on Hudson Bay, Ethan Morgan _and company_ would meet their fate.

 _Evelyn Weir had made a mistake_. She had supposed Stephanie had sold her soul twice. Stephanie had made another type of deal the first time. The second time Stephanie was required to offer something else _plus her soul_ in exchange for the power to seek revenge.

Stephanie had to keep Ethan Morgan and his friends out of monster-hunting action.

The _taming_ of Ethan Morgan was Stephanie's most important job by far. Ethan Morgan, the geek who had by smarts, gifts, luck and daring, turned Whitechapel _right-side up_ and with his friends (and Erica) had made everything right in his world.

In the months since then, Ethan had used his powers to identify a murder of gremlins. He had derailed the plans of three exiled vampires to set up a new vampire council in Toronto.

Ethan could not remain a seer, he couldn't even be an ordinary person. He had to be psychologically broken or dead.

Benny with his magic powers was Stephanie's next objective. Weak enough now, but apparently destined to be one of the most powerful if not the most powerful spell-master of his time. Benny was to be neutralized; and had been. That wasn't too much of a problem.

By why wasn't Sarah, who had played a large role in Stephanie's defeat, included? Stephanie had managed to put her under her spell before, and she considered Sarah cheerleader material.

Besides, Stephanie had to follow certain supernatural rules in bringing it about her revenge. There were lines that the forces of evil couldn't cross. In and out of Whitechapel, she wasn't allowed to turn Sarah into a vampire. The rules against trapping an innocent soul under that curse she wasn't allowed to cross.

At least, Stephanie didn't think she had to worry about Sarah. But Ethan worried her. The notion crossed her mind that if Ethan's seer powers ever returned he'd know exactly what was done to him and why . . . . it would play over and over again like a video feed in his mind.

* * *

The morning of the November full moon, Stephanie enjoyed the life she deserved. Or, to be more specific, the lifestyle Stephanie thought she deserved.

Thunder Bay was the largest Canadian city between Winnipeg and Sudbury. Here, 100,000 people made their home in the port city at the head of Lake Superior. But that didn't matter to Stephanie. What mattered was she was finally could stay at a halfway luxurious hotel.

Stephanie booked a one bedroom suite, along luxuriously soft pillows and ivory-white sheets with the highest thread counts. The super-sized, high-top, king mattress was as light as a feather. The furniture was the most modern and stylish. The walls were decorated with paintings of the landscapes and landmarks of Lake Superior and Northwestern Ontario.

Of course, the room service was _incredible_. Of course, Stephanie took time to laugh at the pimple-faced young man who brought her Eggs Florentine. She even used her magic powers to make him trip onto the rug, and get his head full of eggs and his hands burnt by boiling hot Columbian coffee.

Stephanie made-believe the pimple-faced young man was Ethan.

The second server was more suitable, a slim black haired girl, who escaped Stephanie's wrath. Besides, Stephanie was hungry by this time and didn't want to waste any more time throwing insults at the help.

The morning was spent in the spa with various treatments as she was pampered with various luxuries. Her favourite moments were spent lounging in the salt-water hot tub.

"The only thing that would be cooler, is a squad to with me" sighed Stephanie. "But now I'm in a real city, I can get a few girls who I won't be humiliated to be seen with.

* * *

Getting those few girls was as easy as a trip to a local high school, and a stern red-glowing-eyed look at a few cheerleaders practising their routine in the gym.

Putting the cheerleaders under her spell made Stephanie very happy. Especially, as the head cheerleader disgustingly reminded Stephanie of Evelyn. The type of girl who thought cheerleading was about school spirit, kissing booths and charity drives; who liked sleep-overs but didn't go about insulting the geeky and the gawky.

Her name was Dora by name, . . . but under Stephanie's spell she was as bad as her new leader.

The early afternoon was passed with the girls pillow-fighting, nail-painting, and giggling over teenage guys.

The pimple-faced waiter reappeared with lunch. He had the honour of being called "zit-head" as he entered the room.

"If we had wanted to order pizza, we'd have asked for it" added Dora. "And on our plate, not on your icky head."

"Hey zit-head" giggled Stephanie. "Tell the hotel manager we don't want our food seasoned by the pus dripping from your face."

He fell into the serving cart again, thanks to Stephanie.

A short while later, a stout grey-haired woman, the hotel cook, replaced him. Stephanie and friends, again being hungry, decided to accept. But they laughed and giggled at her all the same.

"What a cow!" said Dora.

"Maybe we should tell the manager how you've been raiding the hotel fridge" said a full-figured blonde cheerleader, Julie by name and best friend to Dora.

"Mind your manners young ladies" said the woman, sternly. She was a no-nonsense type.

"You mind your manners with your paying guests" said Stephanie, who had gained zero empathy from her own time as a lunch-lady. "But I think I'll forgive your rudeness. The food must be good. The way you look, you must _really_ enjoy your cooking."

* * *

Later in the afternoon, Stephanie dismissed her cheerleader "friends". Dora only recovered her memory as she stumbled out the revolving doors of the hotel.

Why had she had skipped school that afternoon to spend an afternoon at a spa? It sounded like fun, but it was so unlike her?

She shivered with cold, as none of the cheerleaders had so much as brought a jacket with them when they left school in their mini-skirts.

"I think it was that creepy blonde girl who came to practice" said Julie, Dora's best friend. "I just hated her on sight."

"You're blonde yourself" Dora gently chided her. "And you're usually nicer than that."

"I just don't know" said Julie. "There was something about her."

"We'd better go back into the hotel" said Dora, shaking her head. "I'll call Rob to pick us up. Would you believe he thought I would break our date because of that big zit that broke out on his forehead?"

"Like we'd _ever_ insult someone for not having clear skin" Julie sniffed. "Not everybody's as lucky as us."

* * *

After her "friends" left, Stephanie fell into a brown study. She sat at the sofa, boredly. So recently an old woman, she opened a hotel magazine and flipped silently through the advertisement of its history and services.

She paused at a photo that matched one of the paintings on the wall. She read the caption:

 _"Leeblaine Hotel, 1956. Gunflint Lake. Leblaine, Ontario. Built outside the old mining and logging town, this predecessor to the Thunder Bay Plaza Hotel and Spa was closed when the Port Arthur and Duluth Railroad discontinued service to the town and hotel site."_

The picture displayed a large art-deco stone building deep in the wilderness with a number of happy vacationers on the well-groomed grounds or on a lakefront beach.

"Well, if I have to make a final stand . . . . but, there's still time for that" Stephanie said aloud. " _But first, I'll try again to force Ethan to act like a true lycanthrope._ "

Stephanie had set up several traps to eliminate her quarry. They had all failed so far.

Malcolm Brunner, son of Manafort Brunner, had been the first. Stephanie hadn't expected Malcolm to kill Ethan (she considered him an idiot), but she did expect Ethan to commit murder, be arrested and shot dead in his cell.

Stephanie was also disappointed to learn Malcolm survived. She had hoped he would die and his soul might even be condemned for his misguided part in her scheme. That would have made her look good!

Then there was the Evil Malcolm. Stephanie had thought silver bullets would have done the work. She didn't realize that the soulless duplicate of Malcolm would have his own priorities and plans.

Stephanie had forgotten about call display. But she did anticipate Ethan and his friends might pursue her to Northern Ontario.

She chose the wilds of Hudson Bay to encourage Ethan's werewolf instincts. At best, she hoped Ethan would kill or be killed on the full moon. At worst, Stephanie hoped that Ethan would recognize his instincts demanded he live at the edge of civilization.

But the five had went to Moosonee and returned. Where? Stephanie didn't know. And they likely made provision for the full moon? How?

"It's the full moon" Stephanie mused. "I'm not going to waste it just humiliating that geek. And he's not going to spend the time tied up _until he feels better in the morning_. Ethan's going to do what a real werewolves do. It's his night to prowl and kill. I want him or his friends to be finished _tonight_. And I'm going to hear how it all goes down!"

Stephanie _could_ summon the demon Valerie Mudrap. But witches usually took orders from demons, not the other way around.

Stephanie considered, and remembered. Ethan, Benny, Sarah and Rory had made a mistake. They had recently again tried their luck at what Stephanie called _necromancy_. That is to say, summoning the dead to provide information on the future. _Pure black magic_. And who did Team Sabre accidentally summon? A condemned soul.

A witch could always summon a condemned soul.

And Stephanie knew she could make _her own deal_ with that particular condemned soul.

Stephanie giggled her short, high titter.


	28. Misery Hates Company

**MISERY HATES COMPANY**

Although chained down, Ethan could see the red sun as it sunk to the horizon. For Ethan sunset brought fear, dread and extreme loneliness. All three gathered with the dusk; as the sun lowered relentlessly to the horizon, second by second, minute by minute.

Yet Ethan valued every one of these seconds as much as he had any in his sixteen years. The teen had been in mortal danger, but never forced to confront _helpless lonely waiting_.

"At least the last time it a surprise" Ethan muttered.

"You wouldn't like to be taken by surprise" said a voice, casually. "You'd have no time to chain yourself up like a rabid dog. You'd kill and bite . . . _you know_ from the movies being killed is usually better than just being bitten. But then, _Ethan_ , I guess that's one thing we know is wrong. Me, because I had a run of 250 years as an immortal. You, because Sarah, Erica and that geek buddy of yours were cured."

"Jesse" said Ethan in a growl.

The ghost of Jesse slowly appeared from out of the gathering darkness. Again, Jesse was in the three-cornered hat and eighteenth century clothes. He no longer looked desperately unhappy, but sported an arrogant smirk that put Ethan on edge.

Jesse was still transparent, but even in that state was able to lean casually against the pine.

Ethan's nose wrinkled involuntarily. A heavy smell of rotten eggs.

"Brimstone" said Jesse, and a shadow flashed over his ghostly eyes. "You see, I was just released by Stephanie. I can't say I like being indebted in any way to a witch, but it suits me well."

"You two have . . . teamed up?" asked Ethan.

"It almost slipped my mind what a geek you are" said Jesse cooly. "You make real life sound like a super-hero movie. Let's say, _Ethan_ , or better yet, let's say, _were-whelp_ , that I'm working for her until she's finished with you. And I'm here to find out a few things. Like how you're still on her trail. She doesn't know how you tracked her after she left Moose Factory"

"Magic" lied Ethan in another growl.

"I'd watch that" Jesse replied, with a smirk. "You might actually want to get all the human conversation you can in now. Soon you won't be able to do nothing but growl . . . bark . . . howl.

"Just . . . _go away_ " said Ethan.

"I've wanted to watch you turn into a were-whelp" said Jesse casually. "You've been through it once before, though you can't remember. it's one thing I never understood about what was supposed to be my immortal enemies. Why isn't it _one, two, three_ , the man . . . _the boy's_ a dog? That never crossed your mind?"

"You have a point" Ethan agreed, in spite of himself. "In movies, a guy always stumble around in pain for a few minutes turning into a werewolf. You could just skip that and have the monster on the loose."

"Because for me" said Jesse, "watching you is going to be the fun of it. Revenge."

" _Revenge is a dish best served cold_ " muttered Ethan, quoting a _Star Trek_ movie. "But didn't you learn anything from being sent down there? Last time you almost seemed to realize what you did to deserve it."

"I only learned how much better it is to be up here" retorted Jesse, though again the pained look crossed his eyes. "But I'm out for the long haul, were-whelp, so it doesn't matter _now_. But you know what, Ethan? There's the sunset. Or should I say the _Dusk_. You know, we've never had much time to talk about how much Sarah used to love the series. _And me_."

Ethan gave a quick glance toward the west, and the skies had definitely darkened. As he could now see well in the dark, this wasn't so much a problem. But the fact Ethan's back began itching the very instant, meant that Jesse was telling the truth.

Ethan, chained up, didn't even have the ability to scratch. He winced. And eventually fidgeted. And his face turned white with fear.

" _There you go, Ethan_ " Jesse said with cruel relish. "You know, as a seer, your soul fights this curse especially hard. You and Benny should have been completely under the spell within twenty-four hours. It took almost two days, so pat yourself on the back while you still can."

"Just . . . _go_ " Ethan repeated desperately, as he fidgeted under the heavy chains.

"You wouldn't want me to take those chains off?" asked Jesse.

" _ **NO!**_ " Ethan growled.

"I didn't think so" said Jesse, wryly. "Let me ease your mind a little, _Ethan_. I couldn't remove them, even Stephanie can't restore me from the dead right now."

Jesse demonstrated by putting his hands through the trunk of the tree. He then, as Ethan continued to wince, swiped his intangible hand through Ethan.

Ethan gritted his teeth.

"Like Coach Ed?" Jesse asked, with a laugh.

"Talk all you want" retorted Ethan. "At least you've proven I'm safe."

"How can you think that?" asked Jesse.

" _Then_ everybody is safe from me" said Ethan sullenly.

There was a moment's quiet.

"It's sort of like a disease" Jesse went on as he looked at Ethan. "It starts slowly. You can naturally grow hair, just not this much. So that's what comes first. I guess it just now spread from your back to your head?"

Ethan hairstyle was relatively long, like Benny and Rory's. He had always kept it that way, as some of his favourite sci-fi characters wore it that way . . . _it was cool_. But Ethan's head of hair started growing now in strange ways, random hairs pushing up and out. The gel that held it down no longer worked, and it looked as if he had a mild electric shot. Or, as Benny had said the last time, if Ethan had been stuck in the trunk of a car.

From there it spread, in the next minutes, Ethan's sideburns grew down and a growth of hair spread over his face like mould over a peach. He looked like a guy who had been trying to grow a playoff beard but his team hadn't got past Game 4 of the quarter-finals.

And, of course, the rest of Ethan wasn't spared. But all Jesse could see was the hair sprouting over the backs of Ethan's hands. And Jesse realized his time was running short to get information.

"How did you follow Stephanie's trail here?" Jesse asked Ethan. "While you're still just a hairy kid?"

"Like I'd ever tell you" Ethan said desperately, as he scratched his hands.

"You're a geek" said Jesse, contemplatively. "When you're not in were-whelp form, or controlled by your whelp instincts, you're genuinely smart. You hacked into something, didn't you?"

Jesse laughed as Ethan's eyes gaped.

"You never had a poker face, did you?" Jesse continued. "Those _sincere brown eyes_ Sarah goes on about? Yeah, I know about that _Ethan_. Those eyes tell the story . . . even when they turn yellow I can read them. You know, they should be more of a bloodshot red tonight. But then that would cancel out the best feature of your counterfeit curse."

"What?"

"I bet David never told you" Jesse went on. "He was only a were-dog, and never knew. The actual werewolves, the ones who are keeners, they know the deal. Benny told you about the potion the werewolves have to turn into wolves whenever they want. Here's what you don't know. It's not much of a potion. It's the human blood that gives wolves the power to turn, human blood lets them remember what they did and control themselves under the moon."

"I don't give a frack about them" Ethan growled.

"As a were-whelp you should" said Jesse sarcastically. "Stephanie was given a special spell. You shouldn't be acting this wolfish until after the full moon. You're a lucky dog. And about now, when you're hair-covered, this should be your last memory until morning. But under _your_ spell, you'll remember _everything_."

Ethan considered saying something, but decided not to give Jesse that satisfaction. But Ethan's immediate cringing look was enough to satisfy Jesse.

"Still, you'll be a werewolf so you won't be able to control yourself' Jesse noted mockingly. "You'll just know _everything_ you do."

"But I'm chained up here . . . safe" said Ethan. "You can't do a frack . . .ing thing. So what are you really . . . doing here? Stephanie must have sent you for . . . a reason."

"She sent me for _a reason_ " Jesse admitted. "But I'd hold the grin, Ethan. You're not going to get much of a break here to try and figure it out. You know, were-whelp, it's been a long time. I haven't seen this for almost two hundred years. It was in Ohio and I had . . . _forget it_ . . . you're smarter than the average were-whelp _Ethan_. What did you hack? Credit cards I bet. No? Well, cell phone? _Closed your eyes, Ethan?_ "

In the interval, Ethan had become as hair-covered as he had been that night of the blue moon. Otherwise, things had been calming down, and the teen was no longer so itchy. But when Ethan had last been speaking he had been struck by a few sharp, brief pains that Ethan barely remembered as leading on to _something_.

And here was the something.

At once, the pains ramped in intensity. So much so, that Ethan was convulsed even under the heavy chains. The physical and mental strain showed on every inch of Ethan's face. And even his heart began to beat at an amazing speed.

"What's going on now?" Ethan couldn't help but yammer.

"You're becoming a were-whelp" said Jesse laconically.

In spite of the pain, Ethan gave Jesse an angry look, the yellow slowly flooding his eyes and the sickly colour showing no intention of leaving.

"Those sunglasses won't help you now" Jesse observed dryly. "But I'll give you an explanation, Ethan. I'm already acting as your guide. So, _dude_ , let me give the you the heads up. If you were turned into an actual wolf, you'd shrink. Four or five feet, that's as big as they get. But Ethan, you'll grow into your were-whelp form. Your arms and torso are too short. They'll grow. And when they're finished you'll be strong enough to claw apart your best friend, or take on a _fledgeling_ vampire, on two legs or _four_. But . . . if I remember right, your hands and feet grow first."

Even in Ethan's pain, Jesse's latest words were infuriating. Reminding Ethan of his having attacked Sarah and Benny! How Ethan had temporarily spoiled Sarah's hope to be human again! Even Jesse calling him dude in his mocking voice was maddening; only Ethan's best friends ever called him dude!

Yet it became clear to Ethan that Jesse was telling the truth. The wracking pain stopped for a moment as a miserable sensation of pins and needles attacked Ethan's hands and feet.

"Look at it like frostbite" joked Jesse, still in a sardonic tone. "It attacks the extremities first."

" _I wish . . . I had frostbite_ " said Ethan in a strained tone. "I hate this. I can't do anything about this."

"No, you can't" Jesse agreed. "Anastasia's friend, our fellow vampire councillor, the master torturer, Harlow, he would have loved to see you go through this. That's one good thing you could say about me, were-whelp. I never played with _my food_ the way Harlow did."

Ethan looked to see his fingertips bleeding as the nails enveloped the skin to become a good two inches of claw. From there, the skin on the backs of his hands burned as the already heavy growth of hair thickened into heavy black fur that, from there, relentlessly crawled up his palm and under his sleeves.

Ethan gritted his teeth again as his furred hands were pulled outward until his fingers became padded like or as paws. He looked disconsolately at them.

"People never realize how much hands separate us . . . well, me . . . from the animals" Jesse went on. "Stephanie has some time to decide on her next move. You won't be able to use a keyboard with your claws."

"Shut up!" said Ethan.

"I hope you're not attached to those boots" Jesse said. "I can't believe you're such a geek as to wear boots."

"Why?" said Ethan, who was looking nervously at his hands-turned-paws. "Maybe I don't want to wear running shoes in a foot of snow."

"You didn't think this through" Jesse replied. "Have you ever seen how long a dog's hind feet are? You're just lucky those boots are low."

Ethan stared at Jesse with his glowing yellow eyes.

"They have steel toes" Ethan said defensively. "They'll hold."

"You just _had_ to wear your lumber jerk clothes, didn't you were-whelp?" scoffed Jesse.

The same thing that had happened to his hands now happened to Ethan's feet. Except they grew a lot longer. The convulsing pain eventually yielded to the pain of a paw trapped in a misshapen pieces of leather with steel at the toes. Something gave, and that was the leather. And Ethan was less than pleased to see long hind paws where his feet and $60 boots used to be.

Ethan wasn't able to comment on this, because the convulsive pains returned. And now they were accompanied by his skin burning as he steadily grew a coat of fur under his jeans, flannel jacket and shirt. A moment later, Ethan felt literally pulled outward at his hands and feet. Every second, his arms and torso started to grow longer.

And a second later, the same feeling hit Ethan's ears. The ears had already grown hairy, now they rapidly turned pointed and started to increase in size.

"It's like you're being pulled out on the rack" Jesse observed as Ethan did little but cry out when the pain became too bad. "You know, that medieval torture device. Again, reminds me of old Harlow. _Old_ Harlow. Almost twice my age. Would you believe, because of my greater powers, that Anastasia's boot licker believed I was centuries older than him?"

Ethan clamped his teeth shut to grit them, but gasped as he drew blood on both his upper and lower gums. His teeth were starting to grow; Ethan's upper and lower teeth dug in where a wolf has its four long sharp fangs.

"I cant stand this much longer" Ethan said hoarsely as he bit his lip, and again drew blood. " _Just shrut UP!_ "

The words didn't sound right to Ethan; his tongue was growing and his larynx were also changing.

"You won't be able to talk much longer" said Jesse. "Another thing that separates _me_ from the animals."

Ethan's jaw now visibly jutted forward, as he felt enormous pressure on his face and skull as the curse began working his nose a snout. Above and beyond the pain of his spine being lengthened, which finally ceased.

Ethan stopped growing somewhere north of seven feet, exposing inches of werewolf stomach and fore-arms above his jeans and paws respectively.

Ethan looked at himself, then looked at Jesse in blind fury and tugged as hard as he could at his chains.

"RrrI'll ret you for rhis, Jesse. I swear . . . R. . your dead."

"Didn't understand, Ethan" said Jesse cooly. "I don't speak whelp. But I notice you're finally _losing it_."

Ethan reluctantly forced himself to relax. His bitterness showed in his furred face. Especially so as a new source of pain told Ethan that he a tail, and it had been pinched under his belt.

Ethan forgot the tail, as for a second he couldn't even breath. His nose was now a cold as any dog's. All about it his face was in pain. Growing teeth pressing again his jaw. And the jaw was gaining strength to make one large jump outward. It was obvious to Ethan. In desperation, he tried to press his paw on his face to stop it. But the bones _snapped and crackled_ like breakfast cereal as his skull was pressed and pulled in the grip of an invisible vice.

And POPPED.

Ethan nose and jaw practically burst into a snout while his head and skull pushed downward and reshaped. Inch after painful inch, until Ethan's cold, canine nose stood more than six inches from his yellow eyes. Although Ethan had a view of snout in front of him, he could only feel the fangs and sharper teeth in what now passed for his mouth.

That said, Ethan was at that instant a confused-looking werewolf. Looking ahead, cross-eyed, at what passed for his now nose. Also twitching in disarray his new wolf's ears atop his furred skull; the long haircut had entirely disappeared along with Ethan's ear's original shape and colour.

Jesse laughed again at Ethan, and Ethan again pulled at his chains before barely suppressing his rage.

Jesse examined a look of fear in Ethan's wolf eyes.

"You're _losing it_ " Jesse told him. "It's almost over, and I can see you can hardly remember _who and what you were_."

Ethan cringed again, as what would be the last stage of his metamorphosis was upon him. The rest of the proportions of a werewolf being forced upon him. Now with a painful stretching at each breath, his rib-cage extended bursting a couple of buttons on his flannel jacket and tearing his t-shirt in a couple places at the seams.

Ethan's jeans at least were okay. Uncomfortable but okay, besides some ripping at the hind paws near the bottom.

With the shirt and the ripped pants . . . it was all very _Incredible Hulk_ like, Ethan realized to his disgust! And there was the guy in front of him who was responsible for this! Ethan wanted to tear him to shreds! And . . . and . . . Ethan was _very hungry_.

Ethan again pulled at the chains, before his mind cleared one last time at the sound of Jesse's cold laugh.

Ethan remembered Stephanie was the main villain, Jesse was only her _dead bloodsucker sidekick_.

"Calm down, man" he thought desperately to himself. "Dude, keep calm. You don't want to act too much the werewolf. You've been turned into _this_ . . . but hold it together. Man . . . _that fracking stench_."

Jesse smelt of brimstone. Ethan longed to rip the creep to shreds. Ethan was _very, very hungry. And . . . and . . . ._

That was the end of any order to Ethan's higher reasoning, as his soul became imprisoned by voracious hunger and volcanic anger. What was left of his brain and his muddled thoughts misfired in several directions, entirely consumed by were-whelp instinct.

This was plain to Jesse by the hungry look in the werewolf's eyes, and the now constant snapping of the lupine Ethan as he strained at the chains. Were-Ethan was still dressed in a tight, too short, ragged flannel jacket and t-shirt. Not to mention the belt, blue jeans, and a few shreds of leather amongst the hind paws.

The reason for the disappearance of Ethan's clothes on the blue moon was now clear. When he wasn't trying to pounce at Jesse, were-Ethan looked about his clothes like any wild animal similarly outfitted. If it wasn't for the chains in his way, he certainly would have pawed them off.

"It's too bad we can't talk any more, Ethan" said Jesse sarcastically as he looked down at his enemy. "You can't understand me now, but you'll remember in the morning. I lied to you, of course, about only coming here to watch. I'm here to free you. Not that I can touch you. But _see this_ , were-whelp."

Jesse moved away from the tree just to were-Ethan's left.

Were-Ethan went on the attack, lunging and seeking to bite and claw Jesse to shreds.

Jesse moved in another direction. Were-Ethan lunged again with a growl and a whine.

Several more times Jesse dodged Ethan.

And Were-Ethan was out of most of the chains. Only the heavy steel about a hind-claw linked him to the fir tree.

Were-Ethan's first instinct told him to stand, instead of go on all fours. So he did, and he stumbled at Jesse. In his fury he had even forgotten about the poor-fitting clothes.

"What you geeks didn't understand was how powerful a full-grown werewolf can be" Jesse told Ethan. "Even you, were-whelp, are more dangerous than you give yourself credit for."

Were-Ethan strained at the edge of the chain, furious with Jesse for the awful brimstone smell and for other reasons he no longer could fully comprehend.

Jesse went to the tree once more, and were-Ethan again jumped at Jesse. The animal that was Ethan hit the tree at its trunk, causing it to quiver. Were-Ethan himself whined in pain from the needles.

"Once more, were-whelp" said Jesse.

Were-Ethan again chased Jesse, and collided with the tree.

"Let's try something different, _dude_ " said Jesse sarcastically.

Jesse drifted away from the tree. Were-Ethan chased Jesse as fast as he could, dropping to all four paws until brought up short, still straining at the chain.

And with a creak, the fir tree fell atop the chain, breaking the padlock and setting were-Ethan free.

Were-Ethan looked about angrily from where he had fallen flat in the snow. Jesse had disappeared, at least for the moment. No sight nor smell of him. But, there was the smell of three others.

One was were-Ethan's own scent, though strangely diluted by human. Hair gel, acne cream, boot leather. The were-whelp was smelling himself, back in human-form less than an hour before.

The second was someone who had just died. Again, hair gel, acne cream, boot leather. It had been human, but was now an unappetizing corpse. This was Zombie Benny.

The third was a living, breathing human being. Hair gel, acne cream, boot leather. But also contact lenses and the smell of breath mints mixed with garlic-breath. Rory.

Were-Ethan brought himself to his hind legs, and went on the trail directly to the motel.

And a moment later, the ghost of Jesse Black reappeared. With a smirk he wondered who or what would be killed first.

"I think" said Jesse quietly, "Ethan, you were-whelp, you'll get a few corpses before the night's done. Because, Ethan, _Even a man who's pure at heart and says his prayers at night, may become a werewolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright._ "

Were-Ethan howled from the trail ahead.

Jesse now followed the advancing werewolf, but kept his distance. He didn't want to distract Ethan from his fate.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Horror and some slight humour (i.e. hockey playoff beards and "snap, crackle, pop") as Ethan is turned into a werewolf and Jesse's role is to browbeat and finally free him as an agent of murder. The title here is based on the proverb "misery loves company."

This is a chapter I wasn't going to write . . . until recently, my intention was to skip to the action in the next chapter. However, in every werewolf movie it seems the victim being turned into a werewolf is shown turning into a werewolf (and Ethan too suffered that fate in "Blue Moon").


	29. Night of the Were-Whelp

**Night of the Were-Whelp**

Were-Ethan continued to prowl along the path back to the cabins. Three teen boys had gone down that path, only two had returned. Were-Ethan didn't care much about that, he was famished. All he could think of was tearing something apart and eating. Raw flesh and dripping blood.

The werewolf stopped at once, sniffing the air as it fell to his four paws . . . when he was still less than midway to the motel.

The halt was so abrupt, Jesse nearly walked into him.

"What are you sniffing, you flea-trap?" Jesse said. "The sketchy lodge you've been staying at is down _that_ way. Or have you actually found a hunter or a camper out here, this time of year."

Jesse followed scowling. He was just in time to see Ethan make his kill.

" _NO!_ " Jesse yelled. "Leave him!"

Were-Ethan prowled on all-fours, and before his quarry could get away were-Ethan lunged at its throat tearing the entire neck to shreds. Ethan's prey could barely make a sound before he fell to the ground dead. The blood soaked Ethan's snout, and splashed on his jacket drenching the burst buttons and the jeans ripped at the hind paws.

A full grown _bull moose_ can reach a height of seven feet and weigh fifteen hundred pounds. Were-Ethan's prey did. Sure, humans were a werewolf's preferred prey. The moose in the bush was worth however many humans were at the lodge.

"You don't want to eat that" Jesse told Ethan irritably, walking right up to the werewolf as it proudly examined its kill. "Just up ahead are buildings full of much tastier humans. Do you really want to be the were-whelp's answer to a rat biter?"

But a full grown moose wasn't one of Rory's rats. And Ethan wasn't going to listen to the ghost at his shoulder. Still, Were-Ethan was angry at the sight and smell of Jesse, and bounded at him when he came too close.

But Jesse, try as he might, couldn't lure Ethan off the moose.

"Even as a were-whelp this loser's still has things fall in his favour" Jesse complained as he watched on. "It's not a good sign for Stephanie. A thousand pounds of meat will even dull his appetite."

* * *

Were-Ethan spent the next few hours eating the moose. Clear to the bone and gristle.

Then he howled at the moon, this was first howl heard by Sarah, Erica, Benny and Rory.

Were-Ethan stretched, stood upon on his back-paws and looked about. A full werewolf should have been a happy werewolf. But a feeling of loneliness swept over the animal. The smell of slaughtered moose, and a friendly howl should have brought another werewolf to him. Were-Ethan looked around for another of his kind. Ethan's greatest fear, of being alone, seeped through from his soul to the violent animal that contained it.

"Actual were-whelps don't usually hunt in packs, you moron" said Jesse. "Forget it."

Jesse was right about one thing. If Ethan had his senses, he wouldn't be looking for either man or beast. His situation was humiliating.

Yet, the moose being stripped to bone was for what Jesse had been waiting.

"Okay, _were-whelp_ , let's see if you want some human for dessert?" Jesse sighed.

Ethan lunged at Jesse's throat and passed through him with a whimper.

Jesse led the werewolf back to the trail, and again were-Ethan again picked up Rory's human scent and prowled down the path. And yet again, Jesse followed from a distance.

This time, were-Ethan quickly covered most of the distant to the lodge. He even picked up the smell of several more human beings.

 _"Ahh-oooooo."_

This howl was to warn others that first crack at the humans were his.

Were-Ethan continued to prowl along for a minute or two . . . but stopped short. Suddenly, his ears perked up.

"You're even more of a screw-up as a werewolf than are a geek" Jesse snapped. " _That way Ethan_ , to the humans."

There was an earnest sound of howling in the distance. Another wolf, or werewolf. Were-Ethan didn't know or care, he went to the sound.

Jesse's temper vanished, and he wore a smirk.

"I'll see how _this_ goes down."

A second wolf howled. This howl was a bit off, and disturbed were-Ethan a little. It sounded like a real howl, but the wolf who in question sounded as if he viewed howling as something funny instead of something to be done in earnest.

Were-Ethan walked onward.

A third . . . something . . . howled. There was something attractive to were-Ethan about the voice trying to do the howling, but there was no mistake. It wasn't a wolf but a girl imitating a wolf.

The three "howlers" were Rory, Benny and Sarah respectively. They had taken to the road in the _Challenger_. They had parked a short distance away from the lodge to lure Ethan away.

* * *

Why howling? It was Sarah's plan, and the best one on short notice. Rory's idea that they barbeque a steer over an open fire to attract Ethan was deemed unworkable. Benny's idea to lock Ethan in the cottage was considered way too chancy near a motel full of people.

As for Erica, she had volunteered to stay behind. She had bravely insisted she would be able to fight Ethan if he dared show up at the cabin . . . armed only with Evelyn's pre-recorded knock-out spell. And the silver quarter she burnt Ethan with several days before.

In truth, it was only partly bravery. Erica had found the idea of pretending to howl to draw in a werewolf to be crazy. The more she thought about it, the more she doubted Ethan was _that_ dangerous. Erica reminded everybody that Ethan had only attacked Benny the last time because he was furious with him for turning him into a werewolf.

"I've known my best friend since I was six" Benny retorted. "As a human being, Ethan would never try to _shred_ me. He may have kicked my butt when I stole his _Pokemon_ lunch box, but no way he'd kill me."

"What makes you think Ethan _doesn't_ know what he's doing?" Erica had insisted. "Maybe he just wants to come here to show he's okay.

"Because this isn't _Dusk V_ " Benny had said.

"Nuh-uh" Rory echoed determinedly, albeit with a near-comical look of being in deep thought. "Our buddy's _really_ careful. He'd hang out in chains all night instead of putting anyone at risk."

"Then we should have pocketed those silver shotgun shells" Erica said.

"That's too permanent a way of stopping Ethan" Sarah said icily, as she opened the door to leave. "We'll keep in touch by cell."

* * *

Sarah, Benny and Rory quickly became disillusioned with their howling scheme. And Sarah and Benny felt stupid, sitting in a _Dodge Challenger_ on the shoulder of the Trans-Canada Highway, in the middle of the forest, howling like wolves.

Rory, fortunately, did not embarrass as easily as Sarah . . . or even Benny.

"Girls can't howl" Benny said irritably, as he listened to Sarah make another fake attempt. "You have to put more of an effort with it. If you were with the Moles, you'd know."

Benny demonstrated.

"Buddy, you're not serious enough" Rory said. "You have to put your heart in it."

Rory did his pitch-perfect _Ahooooo_ from the back seat.

"Is Ethan nearing the motel?" asked Sarah of Erica over the phone.

They were no longer in a dead zone, and the cell worked perfectly.

"Nothing" said Erica. "And for once that little blond geek is right. His howl sounds the most genuine."

"I'm a lot taller now" said Rory indignantly.

"What was that?" snapped Erica.

"Forget it, Rory" said Sarah. "Erica, now's not the time. Even if our howling didn't stop Ethan, something must have distracted him. If he doesn't get lost in the woods, he and everybody else will be okay."

"A werewolf can't get lost in the woods" snickered Benny.

"When he turns back in the morning, he can" Sarah retorted.

"He can sniff his way back" said Benny.

"How?" asked Sarah.

" _I don't know_ " Benny admitted. "But it's Ethan. He's sure to figure something out. Maybe he can follow his foot prints . . . _or paw prints_?"

"If not, we can get a search team in the morning" said Rory. "They have trained dogs."

"That's the last thing Ethan needs" Sarah reminded him. "Dogs can't stand him now. But if . . . ."

Sarah stopped in mid-speech. She was interrupted by the oddly heavy howl of a werewolf. Ethan was right near them.

"It worked" said Rory, excitedly. "I guess he was lonely like you said. _Awesome_ , Sarah."

"I don't know why the chains didn't work" Benny muttered. "Ethan's going to go _ballistic_ when he finds out y _ou've seen him as a werewolf again_."

Sarah didn't say a thing, but raised the windows.

* * *

And then, a hundred yards in front of them, were-Ethan prowled out of the woods. First he entered into the clearing at the side of the highway, then wandered onto the pavement itself.

Some challenging terrain, and the discomfort of the frayed belt not made to hold up a werewolf's jeans, had encouraged were-Ethan to go onto four legs. But now he brought himself up again.

The full moon shone right down upon the blood and mud-splattered werewolf in the too-short flannel jacket, t-shirt and jeans . . . what was left of were-Ethan's boots had finally fallen off his hind-paws.

Sarah was stunned into silence, while Benny and Rory yelled with all their power.

This infuriated were-Ethan, who knew now he was deceived. He gave a growl and a howl that made the three other teens wonder w _hat the heck they were doing!_

"He's _huge_ " Benny faltered. "You know, _I only ever got a really good look at his snout and eyes_ the last time.

" _Incredible Hulk_ huge" said Rory, sadly. "Instead of turning into a big green doofus, he's turned into a hairy doofus. _Vampire Sasquatch_ would never act like this. Krypto, he's only a puppy, and he's way smarter than Ethan is now. _Man, poor Ethan_. I mean . . . guys, talk about embarrassing."

"I didn't know you knew the meaning of the word embarrassing" said Sarah, with a sigh. "Any ideas? I know we can't . . . talk to him."

"If he had his brain, he wouldn't be dangerous. To us" Benny pointed out.

There was only one idea amongst all three of them; and they were all reluctant to say it. But at that moment were-Ethan took a running leap and landing on all fours on the hood.

"CRUNCH" Ethan tattooed the _Challenger_ with four dents and several scratches of his claws. There wasn't really enough room on the car to hold up a full-sized were-whelp.

Were-Ethan opened his muzzle as far as he could and growled. Ethan was so close to the glass the windshield fogged over.

Instinctively Sarah, Benny and Rory cowered back in their seats. Rory bit his lips so he wouldn't embarrass himself by screaming like a girl.

"G-GUN IT" yelled Benny.

And with guilt written in her face, Sarah pushed her foot down on the gas pedal. As the car went up to sixty miles per hour in a matter of seconds, were-Ethan went toppling over the car onto the road behind.

For a brief instant, Sarah thought she had seen a look of awareness in were-Ethan's eyes. As if the animal may even recoiled, ashamed and frightened to be seen by her.

* * *

Sarah wasn't the only one who felt guilty. Guilt was written on Benny's face minus the dead black eyes. Rory may as well had "Guilty!" stamped in ink on his forehead.

 _How could did they do something like that to Ethan?_

"It was survival" said Benny. "He just wanted to eat us, he couldn't recognize us."

"Would be cool if he did" said Rory. "But where is . . . ."

 _"AHHOOOOOO"_

Benny and Rory sighed with relief.

"Weird to be happy to hear Ethan howl like that" Benny observed.

"He's a little behind us" said Sarah. "I better slow down. I don't want to lose him."

"Ethan's going to feel awful about what he did to the car" said Rory. "I bet the roof is also scratched up from when he fell over."

It was. Two large scratch marks along the roof to match the four dents and several scratched on the hood.

Sarah again began driving. Slowly, but she misjudged the situation. Ethan had started in the other direction.

* * *

Jesse would have loved to have Ethan eat Benny and Rory. As for Sarah, Jesse would find it a waste . . . Jesse again had plans for Sarah. But, at least, Ethan killing Sarah would have mentally destroyed Ethan when he regained human form in the morning.

Were-Ethan had landed in a painful heap, but the rule that only silver could kill a werewolf kept him from being seriously injured or even road-kill.

He growled angrily. Like when Benny had turned him into a werewolf two years before, were-Ethan would have _loved_ to chase after the car. But it was already too far away. For the moment Ethan contented himself with chewing up a loose corner of his jacket collar.

"Okay, were-whelp" said Jesse, as he reappeared on the road. "We should be at the lodge soon. Just follow me."

Were-Ethan hated Jesse as much he had when in his right mind and form. So he snarled and bounded after Jesse. And howled yet again.

* * *

Sarah, Benny and Rory weren't stupid. They soon realized their mistake. And, in spite of severe misgivings, made a three-point turn on the dark highway and came driving after Ethan.

"If you're not afraid of Ethan" Benny told Erica on the phone. "Stand by the gas pumps and get ready to zap Ethan with my knockout spell. If you are, try to do it from undercover. He's coming your way and we might not make it in time."

"I'll be by the gas pumps" said Erica confidently. "He never attacked me last time."

"You just keep believing that" muttered Benny.

"Be safe . . . try it from inside the lodge" said Sarah yelled to Erica over Benny. "They keep the lobby and front desk open all night."

All this driving, prowling, running and moose-eating took time. It was now nearly midnight.

* * *

Jesse was wondering how much havoc were-Ethan was going to create, as the dim lights of the lonely motel appeared far down the road. But Jesse was again taken for surprise by a new development.

Several flashing yellow lights heading his way.

A pickup truck with flashing yellow lights and the large sign on the front bumper reading _Wide Load_ followed by a double-tractor trailer carrying logs. Lights also flashing.

Logging was a major industry in Northern Ontario. And whatever a full moon meant for werewolves (and the farmer's almanac), it meant very little in the business world. And a near-deserted highway in the middle of a clear night was considered a great time to ship these logs to the mill near Longlac. Especially as the snowstorm that day had delayed the shipping schedule.

"Were-whelp was a better name for you than I realized" Jesse told were-Ethan musingly, as the werewolf was now taken aback by the flashing lights. "Even for a lupine, your attention span is shot. It's always the nearest thing with you that catches your whelp-ish interest. That's what you get when a guy who's, at heart, obsessed with kid's stuff becomes a werewolf. Well, go chase after it _Ethan_. Maybe the truck run you down. Maybe you'll kill or bite one of the drivers. It's the same to me."

Were-Ethan barely heard Jesse, and certainly didn't understand him (at the moment). So he went for the pickup truck.

* * *

There were two men in the pickup truck, one middle aged man drinking coffee, one young man driving almost in a trance. The older man was bald and clean shaven. The younger man had spiked hair and a beard.

"That 631 Lodge used to have the best java" said the middle aged man. "That was ten years ago. After they closed down and reopened a year later, they sell it watered down. No sense stopping here."

"Yeah, uh-huh" said the younger man driving. "Still over an hour to the mill."

"You better watch for moose" said the middle aged man. "I know a guy who was impaled up ahead in the night."

"Yeah, uh-huh" said the younger man. "Still over an . . . _what's that_?"

"A moose" said the middle-aged man. "Slow down."

"Probably only a deer"

SCRAAAAAAAATCH.

Were-Ethan jumped up at the side of the pickup truck and grasped onto the rear-view mirror.

"THAT's not a deer" said the middle aged man.

The driver looked to his side.

"Yeah, uh-huh" he said, almost hypnotically. "Maybe if we sped up we'd get . . . ."

SMASSHHHHH

Ethan had smashed the side window with his claw, and growled as even a werewolf does not like glass crumbling in his face.

Were-Ethan fell off the pickup truck.

"IT'S NOT A DEER" said the younger man.

Like Sarah a short time ago, he put his foot on the gas pedal.

" _Can't you do anything right, Ethan?_ " questioned Jesse, looking with disgust at the werewolf on the gravel shoulder. "You're as bad as Rory."

* * *

The truck had a heavy-set, white-haired woman driving and talking excitedly. Beside her was a trainee in his late teens going over a checklist. The trainee slightly resembled Rory, having blond-white hair and being thin from a recent growth spurt.

" _What in blue blazes_ is Kevin doing up ahead?" said the woman to the trainee. "He knows he has to keep the pace."

"He's speeding up" said the pale teen. "Did he hit something, I just saw something black fall off the side? I have to check that off?"

" _We just lost a side window, Bertha, because of something that was definitely not a deer_ " crackled a voice over the CB radio. " _We shook it off. We're okay to continue to Longlac, but will need to slow down. Have Dennis complete an accident report._ "

"10-4 Martin" said the woman, Bertha.

"We ought to stop" said Dennis, the trainee.

" _What in blue blazes!_ " the woman exclaimed. "No way! I want to complete the run tonight. I'm looking forward to getting home and sitting naked in my jacuzzi bath. My back is killing me to _blue blazes_."

Dennis inwardly shuddered at the thought of Bertha in a bathtub, and turned to his checklist. He wondered what kind of girls were staying the night at the motel they just passed.

" _What in blue blazes_ is that?" Bertha said.

The teen looked up.

"Looks like a dog or a wolf?

"Far too big. Must be a bear."

"Shouldn't they be hibernating this time of year."

 _"What in blue blazes are you going to do, tell him that_ Dennis!"

"And who is that? And why is he . . . glowing?"

" _What in blue blazes are you talking_ _about_? He's not glowing. It's just the headlights. We can't leave him out here."

Bertha put on the engine brakes, and the truck screeched.

"We're picking up that hitchhiker?" Dennis complained. "He can go to the lodge . . . looks like he's in _a costume_. What a geek!"

"If he's a geek, _What in blue blazes_ do you think you are?" Bertha retorted.

Bertha rolled down her window and stared at the young man standing outside. Dennis similarly looked out agape.

"Will you give me a ride?" Jesse asked, with a smirk.

Jesse, in his three-cornered hat, pony tail, long coat, and short pants, didn't exactly look of the time. And the fact Bertha and Dennis could now see that Jesse was transparent, made them as pale as, well, Jesse.

" _W-W-hat in b-blue blazes?_ " stuttered Bertha.

"Is it a g-g-g-ghost?" questioned Dennis.

"It _is_ a ghost, Dennis" said Jesse, deadpan.

Several thuds announced the fact that were-Ethan had climbed up the cargo of logs and was ready to ride up to the cab the long way.

"No way _in blue blazes_ will I let a ghost hitchhike on my truck" announced Bertha.

Bertha was disconcerted to see Jesse vanish in a whiff of smoke.

Bertha rolled up the window and, as fast as she safely could, brought the truck up to speed.

Were-Ethan had a good grip this time. He had managed to make his way atop the cab, right above the people inside.

THUD

"I'll take care of those ghosts" said Bertha to Dennis, who was frantically looking through his checklist as if they're be an answer there to a ghost attack.

Bertha's plan involved honking the loud truck horn, and exhausting a plume of diesel from the truck. However well it might or might not have worked on a ghost, _it did annoy_ were-Ethan enough for him to yammer in pain and retreat to the trailers and the logs.

* * *

By this time, Sarah, Benny and Rory had returned in the _Challenger_. Sarah had stayed as far to the right shoulder of the highway as possible, worried both about were-Ethan jumping at them from the forest . . . and the less supernatural hazard of being hit by a truck carrying a wide-load.

"What the heck does Ethan think he's doing now?" said Rory.

"He's not thinking" said Sarah tersely.

Were-Ethan decided he wasn't interested in diesel smoke or truck horns, especially as were-Ethan still had a thousand pounds of moose meat under his frayed-leather and tail-pinching belt. So he jumped off, although not before chomping a trophy off the last trailer.

An Ontario license plate, reading _Yours to Discover_.

"Ethan's definitely _not_ thinking" said Rory. "He has to have at least five Ontario plates already. Most of them he has put away in his attic. _No way_ he needs to bite one off a truck."

"He's not thinking" said Benny musingly. "But Ethan's deep in there, under _a lot of angry werewolf_. And biting a license plate off a moving truck . . . _really cool_."

" _If_ you think being a werewolf is a good thing" scoffed Sarah. "It's midnight. How long do we have until dawn?"

" _8:50_ in the morning" said Benny grumpily. "Ethan's a dog until the sun _actually rises_ over the horizon. Not dawn. And I'm probably going to need some brains myself by that time."

"Let's try that knockout spell on Ethan" suggested Sarah.

"No, wait, Sarah!" said Benny. "We can drive up and down the section between the _631 Lodge_ and Longlac.

"And let Ethan chomp a car?" Rory said. "He can't stay on the road until nine in the morning? Can he?"

"It'll give us a few hours to think of something better" Benny insisted.

"It works for me. We'll open the window and have Ethan smell _us humans_ " Sarah replied. "All the windows at the motel will be closed this time of year. He'll smell us, then we'll lead him down the highway."

"But first make a u-turn" Benny said.

Sarah did, and the human scent again hungered the werewolf down the road. But it didn't work.

* * *

Jesse having solved were-Ethan's proclivities, knew he could work around Team Sabre minus Ethan's latest scheme. Jesse simply appeared between were-Ethan and the car.

 _"Here, were-whelp_ " said Jesse, in a sneering tone. "You want to go after me, don't you? You really want to get me?"

With that, Ethan dropped the license plate and headed for the lodge. And nearby, he smelt several human scents . . . and again forgot about the Jesse and his brimstone stench.

"I've got you Ethan" Jesse gloated, as he again shadowed the were-whelp. "How will you feel after you tear apart this dump and the people in it?"

But were-Ethan had a very short attention-span. Having ate a moose, he wasn't much for hunting anything that wasn't right in front of him.

And although humans were his preferred prey, were-Ethan would much prefer a steak right in front of his nose than a person he'd have to break down a wall or window to reach.

That's why, in spite of the humans inside the motel and the cottages, were-Ethan immediately sniffed out and slobbered over a raw steak placed out near the gas pumps. And, do what Jesse might, he couldn't prevent were-Ethan from following a trail of ground beef and beef's blood . . . right into a small steel shed behind the motel used to store gardening equipment.

And in there, were-Ethan was knocked flat by Benny's old knockout spell, courtesy of Erica.

Erica padlocked the shed and wiped her hands.

" _YOU?_ " she said, as she came face-to-face with Jesse.

"Not bad" said Jesse with a smirk. " _Not bad at all_. Sarah's been trying to lure the were-whelp away, she's been too _afraid_ to take the risk of Ethan eating any of the motel guests. You were willing to risk them to catch that dog. I knew you were valuable at my side. _Hot too_ , once we had you go through some improvements."

Erica had been taken by surprise, but quickly recovered.

"I've never seen such a geeky outfit in my life" she said. "And I've been hanging around Ethan, Benny and Rory more than I could wish."

"My clothes are old school; not geeky" Jesse said with a yawn, although he in truth hated the clothes. "But tell me, how did you set out this werewolf buffet?"

"Paid the owners for some raw meat" said Erica. "They didn't care so long as I paid. And then I set out the meat. Ethan's geek posse can guard him until morning. I think I'll get my beauty rest."

"Beauty rest" sneered Jesse. "Imagine if your friends had never ruined my plans. You would be at my side, young forever and need hardly any rest at all."

"I still may be" Erica replied. "And I don't need or want you to be vampire. In fact, you're forgetting you're _still_ in trouble for glamouring me."

Jesse laughed outright.

"And what are _you_ going to do?" Jesse sneered. "I think _you'd better look out for me_ now you've ended my night early. But why did you do it? Why didn't you let Ethan chew up the motel? As a friend of Sarah's, or do you actually feel for Ethan and what he's going through?"

Erica shrugged.

"Maybe I want to shut him up about my putting him on the dinner plate at the old vampire restaurant" she said dryly.

" _Sure_ " smirked Jesse, and disappeared.

* * *

A good thing Jesse did. Sarah and Benny arrived in the dented _Challenger_. Rory was just behind.  
Rory had carefully gone to the side of the road, where, he collected that Ontario license plate, _Yours to Discover_ , all but buried in snow, chewed up along the edges and punctured through in several places with were-whelp tooth marks.

Benny was impressed by the prize. Erica thought it was gross.

Sarah _definitely_ wasn't impressed, and she was certain Ethan would be red-faced about it when Rory and Benny let him out of the steel toolshed at ten to nine the next morning.


	30. Back on the Trail

**BACK ON THE TRAIL**

Sarah and Erica hiked down the forest trail at sunrise the next morning. Sarah had volunteered to go after Ethan's backpack and spare change of clothing, while Erica had, after some complaints, agreed to accompany her.

No one was known to be camping in the area. So, to everybody's relief, it appeared the blood on Ethan had belonged to an animal and not a human being. Well, everybody's relief but Erica's, who really didn't care one way or the other.

"I thought you'd be the first one to greet Ethan, when he turns human again in about . . . three minutes" said Erica, checking her smart phone as she joined Sarah on the trek. "Instead we're going on an hour's hike in the cold. _Before_ breakfast."

"It'll be more like brunch when we get back" said Sarah with a smile. "But it'll feel good. Don't tell me you're against a little exercise? It's warmed up outside, it's _only_ about freezing."

"First karate, _now this_ " said Erica. "I don't know how being human again turned you into a fitness nut."

"I've _always_ been like this" Sarah reminded her. "And I love karate."

Sarah and Erica continued to walk along the trail, turning their eyes to the three sets of boot-prints before them. Ethan, Benny and Rory's. The boys had all been trudging at the same pace, having carried the heavy tow chain. Sarah didn't know Ethan's shoe-size, but playing detective she guessed it was the deeper prints, closer together.

"I think so to" said Erica, following Sarah's eyes. "Those ex- _Scouts_ or _Moles_ or whatever they were, they think they're the only ones who can track? Those boots there, the guy walking in them was staggering along, probably very unhappy. Angrily kicking the snow every now and then. Look, Sarah, I don't really approve of you and Ethan. But why don't you want to see him the moment he gets his geek brain returned to him? He'll be overjoyed if you accept him at his werewolf-worst."

"I'm letting him get cleaned up first" said Sarah, seriously. "He's not going to want his ears to stick out, Ethan expects them to be pointed now. I don't know what's going to happen to his teeth."

"He's your geek" shrugged Erica.

"I know I'll _eventually_ think of him the same way" continued Sarah. "But . . . I can tell you I'm not perfect."

"You've been trying to give the impression lately" Erica snorted.

"It would be hard not to cringe at Ethan with last night's blood all over him" Sarah said quietly.

"I don't know how you can cringe at blood?" Erica retorted.

"I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite there" said Sarah, blushing.

"But then again, immortals are much neater than werewolves" said Erica reflectively. "Honestly, right about now, don't you think a nice warm drink of plasma would hit the spot?"

"No" said Sarah bluntly. "It makes me sick to think of it. But a cup of coffee or a cup of hot chocolate would be something I'd love. _With Ethan_."

"Speaking of Ethan" said Erica. "Here's Ethan's werewolf tracks again. He went off the trail here to where you and his posse were howling on the highway. _I can't believe that actually worked!_ "

"Ethan mostly walked on his feet" said Sarah compassionately, as she looked down at the long deep prints. "It must have been carried-over from his _real_ personality. He did that the first time he was a werewolf. He cut at Benny with his claws, and only dropped to all fours when I took him down."

"You must really love him" Erica said tersely. "Calling the things that made those prints feet."

The girls hiked onward, following the three sets of boot prints going into the forest and the the werewolf prints returning. They arrived at a place that with several werewolf prints stomped over the boot prints.

"Ethan went off the trail here, for some reason" said Sarah.

"Well, duh" said Erica.

"We should check it out"

"If it doesn't take too long."

Sarah was worried when this new trail was soon splashed with what had to be brown, congealed blood. And a couple of scraps of something black.

"Boot leather" said Sarah. "Ethan must have lost his boots around here."

"More like tore them to pieces" said Erica, "given the size of those paws."

"They were steel toed boots" said Sarah skeptically, unknowingly echoing Ethan the night before. "They should have stayed on."

" _What the_ . . . ." started Erica.

" _Cover your jacket with your nose_ " suggested Sarah.

There was the horrible, putrid smell of rotting flesh. But, odd to say, no flesh was about. The girls only stood around a mess of black and brown congealed blood in the snow. And the bone and cartilage of a moose.

"You're lucky" observed Erica wryly. "Ethan, as a werewolf, was more confused than hungry or even, you know, _competent_. Here's why he was able to pass up several human-sized meals to look for cars or the trail of beef I set out for him."

"You're lucky we're the ones who came" Sarah replied, with a smile on her face because she saw proof positive Ethan would not have murder on his conscience. "If it were Benny or Rory, they'd want to take the antlers as souvenirs. Or maybe they'd want to preserve the whole skull."

"Ethan left it too battered for that" Erica scoffed.

"What's that?" said Sarah.

Off to the side were paw prints even larger than those made by Ethan as a werewolf. The prints began suddenly, had _walked_ three steps, and disappeared. And amongst those footmarks, the smell of putridity was stronger than amongst the blood and the other remains of the moose.

"Jesse?" asked Erica.

"Jesse didn't have giant, triple-clawed, three-pronged feet" said Sarah.

"It must have been Ethan" said Erica.

"Those footmarks are on top of those of Ethan's" said Sarah, as she tried to look closer but couldn't stand the stench.

"We'll take a picture, and take it to our geek and monster squad" said Erica wryly.

Sarah and Erica both took a snapshot, from different angles, and hurriedly returned to the fresh air.

* * *

The girls regained the main trail, and followed the boot prints and, now, various shreds of Ethan's steel-toed boots. They stopped in amazement at the felled tree.

The chain, the broken padlock, and the fact that boot prints and werewolf prints had clamboured over the ground in great disarray showed them _their_ trail ended here.

"Well, that's easy" said Erica after a pause. "The trees up here don't have very deep roots because the soil's so thin. The geeks didn't think Ethan would pull it down. Look, those pieces of twisted metal and leather are what happened to the steel toes.

"There's Ethan's backpack" said Sarah, as she grabbed it.

"And there are the buttons on Ethan's lumber-jerk jacket" Erica snorted. "It reminds me of when that scientist turns into . . . . what _is_ the name of that green man in the comic books? _The Jolly Green Giant_!"

"I think it's the _Incredible Hulk_ " said Sarah, with a giggle. " _The Jolly Green Giant_ sells frozen vegetables. But, if you hear Ethan and his friends talk about the _Hulk_ , there's nothing incredible about him. They think he's a big green doofus."

The girls were conscious that all three of the teen boys had struggled with the tow chain. It made them all the more determined to carry it back to the lodge themselves . . . still it was _actually_ heavy.

"I don't see how, if Ethan was tangled up in this, he could have freed himself" said Sarah, once she had half the weight of the chain on her shoulder. Do you suppose Jesse could have freed him?"

"No" said Erica, as she looked once more at the confusion of prints. "I don't think he was able to actually _touch or move_ anything."

"I've met ghosts before who can" said Sarah, "If that's what you want to can call Ethan being tortured by one, or me or you being possessed actually _meeting_ a ghost. But . . . Jesse's a different type."

"The other ghosts were _stuck_ " said Erica shortly. "Jesse was summoned back, or _so you say_. Maybe that's your answer?"

"Maybe Stephanie decides what Jesse can and can't do?" said Sarah.

"Looking around here, _I'm sure he wasn't tangible_ " said Erica, thoughtfully. "You used to be in my historical fiction club. You remember bear baiting, from _Princess of Kertoway Heights_?"

"In the old days, when they penned up a bear, and set bulldogs on to make it fight?" said Sarah with disgust. "Until the bear was finally killed?"

"I think Jesse did a little werewolf baiting with Ethan" said Erica, and to Sarah's annoyance Erica didn't forebear to chuckle at the thought.

" _Poor Ethan . . . If Jesse wasn't already dead . . . ._ " started Sarah, giving Erica an angry glare. ". . . . Let's get this chain back. I don't want to see anymore."

* * *

Benny had spent the early morning hours alternately dozing and casting what he called "refresher knock-out spells" to make sure were-Ethan didn't cause any trouble. It made Benny " _seriously angry_ " to hear Ethan complain about no one knocking him out before he turned into a werewolf.

"Dude, it wouldn't have held while you turned" said Benny. "No more than your shoes."

Ethan had glared at Benny, and then pulled a tuque down on his now-pointed ears and fastened his ripped jacket as best he could. But Ethan soon gave up on forcing his running shoes on his feet. It seemed like a horrible quirk of fate, but in returning back into human form Ethan's feet had kept most of their lycanthropic length and hair.

"I'll buy some new shoes dude" volunteered Rory, as the three looked disgustedly at Ethan's feet. "They have hunting boots in the store. The largest pair they have. You know, buddy, those remind me of _Vampire Sas_ . . . ."

"Rory, don't say it!" begged Ethan.

". . . _Sasquatch_ " Rory finished.

* * *

Ethan, after squeezing his overgrown feet into a dusty pair of Size 14 boots, had offered to tell the night's adventures to Benny and Rory.

"You remember?" asked Rory. "Awesome."

"Yeah, awesome" said Ethan with the bitterest sarcasm as they walked back to the cottage.

"Uh, you might want to look in the mirror dude" Benny said, with a shrug. "You look cool, but horror movie cool."

"As if you just _slaughtered_ someone" Rory said.

"Only a moose" said Ethan forcefully.

* * *

Rory had stayed up all night on guard duty. A counterfeit zombie can sleep in the cold, but not a human teenage boy.  
Inside the cottage, he fell asleep on his bunk.

Meanwhile, Ethan looked in the mirror by the door. He saw a blood-splattered version of himself with a ragged beard of a few playoff games' duration, pointed ears, oversized boots, and a dishevelled head of hair. Ethan decided not to give his story at the moment. Sarah would be there in less than an hour.

Ethan looked at his teeth, and at first sighed with relief he didn't have fangs. But on second look, they _all seemed bigger_ than before, _especially_ the canines.

"Why is in movies" Ethan muttered to himself, "the werewolves get to change back? _I get to look like a werewolf_?"

* * *

Benny spent the next half-hour Benny arguing with Malcolm Brunner about whether to report the _werewolf damage_ on the _Challenger_ to the insurance company.

Benny's intention had been to only call his grandmother, but had reached Malcolm while he was busy cleaning the Weir's garage.

"I have _all-peril_ " said Malcolm. "Just call them up. Blame _any_ wild animal. After you talk to them, you can go and track down Stephanie."

"No way" said Benny. "Ethan explained it to me. His dad's an insurance adjuster. They'll want to keep us and your car _here_ until they send someone over. _Seriously pal. You're going to let Stephanie walk because you don't want to pay for auto body work?_ I thought you were over being a cheap jerk and two-faced creep?"

" _Just check_ " whined Malcolm. "It can't hurt?"

"You check" said Benny. "It's your car."

Malcolm checked. And sent an e-mail telling Benny to send a photo, and it would be enough.

* * *

"How did Malcolm get away with it?" asked Ethan, who, also tired, had went to stretch on the sofa.

"Malcolm Brunner said he was the grandson of Manafort Brunner" Benny complained. "I _almost_ wish the guy did disintegrate. _Looking good, buddy_."

"The new Ethan, same as the old Ethan" Ethan joked, but added, "I wish my Dad had taught me how to shave. The chin was a killer."

Ethan had his combed his hair his usual way, which happily covered the tops of his ears. A close shave, with several cuts and scratches along its way across his face, had done the rest.

And you couldn't really notice Ethan's teeth, except when he gave a widemouthed grin.

* * *

So much so, that when Ethan waited outside for Sarah, her first sight of him she broke into a beaming smile. The feeling was shared by Ethan . . . but he was careful not to beam too much.

First Sarah had to finish carrying the chain to the trunk.

"Do you need any help?" asked Ethan.

"No, just pop the trunk" said Sarah.

Ethan flinched at the word "pop", but quickly used the remote control to open the trunk.

 _Then, more like a romance novel than real life, they went into each other's arms._

"If Ethan wasn't such a nerd . . . ." muttered Erica, looking at them. But she left her thought unfinished.

"I'm sorry about the car" said Ethan haltingly. "Trying . . . to attack you."

"It's okay" said Sarah. "Don't mention it. No harm done. For a cursed guy, you look really good."

"You're talking like I do sometimes" joked Ethan.

"How can I forget?" said Sarah with a smile. "On our first date, you told me my eyes match my shoes."

"Oh, that reminds me" said Ethan, turning for an instant to Erica. "Thanks for . . . imprisoning me. That really makes us even about the vampire restaurant."

Erica didn't care to have Ethan give her an embarrassingly sentimental thanks; nor was she going to acknowledge _to Ethan_ that she had owed him one for that sabotage.

"The fact I ever agreed to help your little monster hunting group is what makes us even" Erica said scornfully.

Ethan swallowed, and shrugged.

"I remember everything that happened last night" he told Sarah. "Uh, you know . . . Jesse was here?"

"Yes, he spoke to Erica" said Sarah.

"Stephanie's teamed up with him" Ethan told her, as they went into the cabin.

* * *

As briefly as he could, Ethan told everybody his account of the night's adventures. Excluding his turning into a counterfeit werewolf, the entirety of which experience Ethan covered in one sentence:

"After dark, I turned into werewolf" said Ethan tersely. "That's when Jesse appeared, to watch and make fun of me while it happened.

"What a warp 10 butthead!" said Rory angrily. "But don't worry, Ethan. At worst, it'll only happen again another 2 to the power of 10 minus one times."

Ethan couldn't help but growl at the remark.

* * *

Having put off turning into a counterfeit werewolf again for _at least_ another month, Ethan had been feeling pleased. But the thought of Jesse's discovering _his online hacking_ was a big problem.

"Not only could he read my face," Ethan complained, "Jesse has some supernatural way of knowing more about us than he has any right to know."

"He's a condemned spirit" said Benny. "It's like he told you. Sarah's like a lighthouse when he was released from d _own there_ . . . ."

" _Sarah's like a lighthouse?_ " Sarah repeated incredulously.

" _It's a compliment_ " said Benny. "A soul released from a curse _enshrouding_ it in the darkness. It goes for Rory too."

"But the main point is" said Ethan, "Stephanie knows how we're tracking her. I don't know what else I can break into to track her down."

"If you're so smart" said Erica sarcastically, "break into the _Ontario Provincial Police_ information system. Try the _Royal Canadian Mounted Police_ too, in case she goes into Manitoba. Put out an APB on Stephanie's _Range Rover_. Let them do the work."

" _Whoa_!" said Rory, impressed. "I didn't know you knew what an APB was? Awesome. _Calling all cars, calling all cars, be on the lookout for a hot but psycho witch in an awesome SUV._ "

" _If_ its not illegal to turn me into a counterfeit zombie" said Benny, who took the idea seriously "or you, pal, into a counterfeit werewolf, it should be. Can you make the cops set out a dragnet?"

"We're talking about interfering with the police" Sarah objected.

" _For a seriously good reason_ " Benny said. "Stephanie is a murdering, soul-stealing, zombie and werewolf making, counterfeiting _witch_."

"If Ethan were to get caught, it's prison" Sarah returned. "This isn't a comic book. You geeks don't know what you're trying to do. You don't just send the police on wild goose chases and expect them _not_ to find out who's behind it."

"It won't work" said Ethan, who had hated the idea from the start.

"Why?" scoffed Benny. "Encryption too hard?"

"Maybe for you" Ethan retorted. "But we're not only talking about computers. We're talking about policemen, policewomen, detectives, sergeants, dispatchers, constables . . . all following orders from the computer. You can tell a computer what to do, because it doesn't have consciousness, it can't think like we do . . . _yet_. Maybe, in a few years, we'll have our own version of _R2D2_ and _C3PO_ and . . . ."

 _For a second, Ethan fell into a happy Star Wars daydream_.

"But the police will find it suspicious and send their best programmers to find out who hacked in their system. And since _actual_ criminals could abuse the system, it would be their number one priority."

Everybody, even Rory, agreed that it was a terrible idea.

"Besides, dude" said Benny, "Remember _The Terminator_ movies. If we get computers that think like us, we might get killer robots instead of _R2D2_ and _3CPO_."

"Not if we have a secret universal shutdown code" said Ethan.

"Geeks" sniffed Erica.

* * *

There was little to do but have brunch, and a comfortably hot brunch they did while they considered whether it would be a good idea to go on to Thunder Bay or wait at the lodge until they could find more information. Checkout was 1:00 in the afternoon, so if they didn't want to waste Malcolm's money on an unnecessary night's stay, they would need to make up their mind.

Erica knew a little more about buying and credit than Sarah or the teen boys, so she volunteered her thoughts.

"Stephanie _is only_ a lunch lady, and lunch ladies don't get too many credit cards on the money they make" Erica said, while she sipped tomato juice in a way calculated to annoy Ethan, Benny and Rory. "It'll be hard for her to get new credit. And, especially if she leaves the country, it's not that easy any more to just live on cash."

"I always use cash" said Rory noisily.

Rory Keener and coffee, especially a _cappuccino_ (which was espresso with hot cream added), was not a good mixture.

"But you're a kid" Sarah pointed out as she cut a piece from a large Belgian waffle. "And even now, we have to sign in or post our money up front for security when we check into a hotel."

"There's magic?" Rory pointed out.

"We've seen how she works" Ethan said. "Maybe she _could_ just use several memory spells, but she hasn't been happy using a light touch on people. Maybe she can't. Stephanie always seems to lash out at everybody she comes into contact with."

" _Except hot cheerleader babes_!" Rory laughed.

"Don't people have those instant-credit card approvals?" asked Benny.

He had some dubious English sausages; one taste told Benny they were all he needed for the day's quota of brains.

"Again, she's a minimum-wage school lunch lady" Erica repeated. "We'll have some time."

"And we still have her cell phone account" said Ethan. "From that I can trace her phone . . . unless she ditches it."

Ethan used his phone to check Stephanie's bank account.

"We're going to Thunder Bay, this afternoon" Ethan announced, as he passed his phone around.

Clear to see for everybody was the $500 Stephanie had paid out to the _Thunder Bay Plaza Hotel and Spa_.

"She can't be happy to be leaving so soon" said Erica. "After staying in dumps like this."

"Not so loud" muttered Sarah, who looked round to see if one of the owners was nearby.

"Stephanie must know we're closer than she thinks" said Ethan, happily. "Jesse failed her last night. She hasn't had time to close her accounts or move her money."

Ethan grinned so widely, Sarah, Erica, Benny and Rory looked at his sharp, white teeth.

Ethan coloured as he noticed their stares.

"They're not that big" said Ethan defensively. "It took hours for anyone to notice."

"They're not bad" said Sarah with a shrug. "No one will ever confuse them for vampire fangs."

"They're cool" added Benny. "They're _normal_ human teeth."

"Plus I bet you won't get cavities" added Rory.

* * *

Ethan hungrily attacked several pancakes topped with genuine maple syrup. One of the advantages of eating an entire bull moose, was that for the first time in the last few days his ravenous hunger for meat had let up. He could eat normally . . . _for the time being_.

That said, Ethan remembered how he had nearly lost it on the trip up to Northern Ontario. He offered to checkout and pay the bill, but in fact stayed behind to ask for a soup bowl for "his dog" to gnaw on.

Ethan hid it in his backpack, along with the stolen license plate.

Ethan needn't have worried about the bone. Erica had finally given up on her "cool girls in front" seating plan. Ethan sat to the right of Sarah, and Sarah sat between Ethan and Benny in the back. Given their long night; all soon fell asleep during the monotonous drive through the non-stop forest to Longlac.

Erica listened to _Dusk II_ , while Rory, amped up on cappuccino and a morning nap, played a game of _Conquer the Solar System_ and "totally pawned" the Plutonians - furious ever since their home-world was demoted from planetary status.

* * *

It would have been better if Sarah hadn't been so tired. Or Erica had put _Dusk II_ aside. The events of the morning had pushed the strange three-clawed footprint and the horrible putridity out of their minds. After all, what was a few three-pronged paw prints when following a whole trail left by the seven foot plus were-Ethan?

But those few, mysterious footprints represented a threat were more dangerous than that of a counterfeit werewolf. The prints belonged to the demonic monster of the northwestern woods; the legendary instigator of cannibalism, famine and decay. _The Wendigo_.

Stephanie, dissatisfied with Jesse's ineffectual prodding of Ethan, decided she needed more help. When she made her last stand, as she was now preparing to do, she would not only have Jesse, but the Wendigo at her side.


	31. The Road To Thunder Bay

**The Road to Thunder Bay**

The Morgans were sitting in their living room.

Ethan's dad, Ross, had his arm around Samantha. The couple was relaxing, watching a movie on televison. A romantic comedy, of the type Ethan could rarely stand without yawning himself stupid.

Jane wasn't paying close attention. She was sitting at the table nearby, doing some homework. It was long division, and one of the few things for which she depended on Ethan's help.

 _A sudden crashing, a splintering screak caused the three to turn_ . . . .

"What the . . . ." started Ross.

The front door had been burst open and fallen to the floor in a pile of debris. But this wasn't what frightened the Morgans.

It was the large wolf-like creature in ragged flannel-shirt and ripped jeans skulking toward them with a roar.

Ethan's mother screamed, Ethan's father yelled.

By one movement of his clawed paws, the werewolf flung them smashing into the television set. They weren't dead, but knocked out. But the werewolf didn't care in the least. He had his snout set on more appetizing prey.

The long division problems on the table didn't mean anything to Ethan now. It was questionable if his werewolf brain would even be able to read his own name.

But here was a tender young girl before his yellow, lupine eyes. Gaping at the monster helplessly. And opening her mouth to scream with all her might.

* * *

Ethan yelled as loud as he could . . . as he opened his eyes wide.

Ethan was still in the _Dodge Challenger_ , a thousand miles away from home. He was human enough, although his ears were pointed.

Ethan very obviously gasped for breath, and a cold sweat broke out on his face.

 _It was just a dream!_

Ethan had a couple years practice in pushing back his fears . . . even a nightmare like that! . . . and in a few moments had recovered himself enough _to turn red with humiliation_.

"Bad dream" Ethan admitted embarrassedly, as he looked at his friends (and Erica), and was especially sheepish in looking at Sarah.

"What a loser!" Erica sniffed.

"Nuh-uh" said Rory, who was still at _Conquer the Solar System_. "Ethan's just a little uptight."

"The dude was a werewolf last night" yawned Benny irritably, who had been waken by Ethan's yell. "What do you expect, Rory?

Sarah examined Ethan's still fearful expression.

"Was it werewolf-related?" asked Sarah in a whisper to Ethan's ear. "You killed someone?"

Ethan nodded.

Sarah put her hand on Ethan's own.

"Me?" Sarah whispered.

"No" Ethan muttered. "I know _you_ can take care of yourself."

Sarah looked concerned.

"Your family? I used to have those dreams my first couple weeks as a flegeling" said Sarah, still in a confidential whisper. "But that's the silver lining with vampires hardly getting any sleep . . . less nightmares. But forget it, it was all just a dream."

"I know" said Ethan. "But . . . uh . . . where are we?" he added aloud, trying to cheer himself up by a change of subject.

"Near Thunder Bay" said Rory.

While Ethan had been sleeping, _Dusk II_ had droned on. But more importantly, Team Sabre and Erica had driven through the stretch of woods to Longlac, down along the cliffs bordering the Nipigon River. Highway 11 had rejoined Highway 17, and now on a four lane road they were rapidly making their way to Thunder Bay.

Here and there, there were glimpses of Lake Superior extending to the distant grey horizon. So there it lay, the largest freshwater lake in the world, whose unruly waves tossed upon her rugged, granite shores bounded by piles of snow and ice.

"Would be awesome to go swimming" said Rory regretfully as he looked on the scene. "If we had been in July."

"Hardly anyone swims there" said Sarah. "Even in summer. It doesn't warm up much."

The highway also had the Canadian Pacific Railroad as its traveling companion now. The railway ran sometimes to the north and sometimes to the south of the highway, not caring how many times it crossed over or ducked under the route. It, after all, had been there eighty years before the road.

But most interesting to the weary teens were the many billboards advertizing hotels and restaurants ahead in Thunder Bay. Not only that, but a zip line, an old fort, a shopping centre, gas stations and garages.

"It's good to be back in civilization" said Erica contemptuously.

"Doesn't _Dusk_ take place in some small isolated town?" asked Benny mischievously.

"Only a nerd like you would say something like that" Erica replied. "Edwin and Isabella's hometown is completely different from Moose Factory or Hornepayne. It's a _sophisticated_ small isolated town."

"So long as its sophisticated" said Ethan quietly to Sarah, with a grin.

* * *

The sun was starting to set by the time Team Sabre plus Erica had rode into Thunder Bay.

Here, the combo 11 and 17 was the only highway connecting eastern Canada with the west. And it was the main route across Thunder Bay as well. To everybody's annoyance, they were slowed by the several traffic lights puncturing the route. And the cars and trucks that slowed traffic in the only large city in the thousand miles between Winnipeg and Sudbury.

"It's about ten minutes to the hotel" said Benny, who examined his smart-phone. "My signal's finally back."

"You'd think we were in the dark ages" agreed Rory, who finally abandoned his game to connect his computer to the internet by way of a link with his cell.

Rory was always hoping for emails from girls asking him for a date, or _anybody_ inviting him to a party. He only found an email from his parents. Rory's face fell when he discovered that his parent's had, _again_ , sent a message stating _"That's a great idea for a school trip. We know you'll be able to keep up with your homework."_

* * *

When Erica finally left Highways 11 and 17, Ethan was downright bewildered by the street lights, cars, stores and houses. And _agitated_. He considered getting the soup bone he had brought, and chewing on it.

 _But man! Did he have to chew a bone right beside Sarah? But he had just tried to kill her when he was a werewolf the night before?"_

" _Doesn't count_ " thought Ethan angrily. " _Anything done as a werewolf doesn't count!_ "

Ethan looked outside again. He had a sinking feeling. What was that they had said about a werewolf preferring the forest? Ethan liked small towns, he liked going to a big city. But . . . once again, the curse was playing havoc with his senses.

Ethan would have kept quiet about this latest discovery, but like many people he complained aloud before he thought better of it.

"If I don't get cured, I'm going to take Roger Leblanc up on his offer and look for a job at a lodge" groaned Ethan. "Or just go and move to a cabin in the woods. This just feels . . . weird."

"Lots of things feel weird when your cursed" offered Rory.

"Ethan'll be cured" said Benny casually. "Because if he's not, then I'd be a counterfeit zombie for life. And not just any kind, but the _most boring kind of zombie imaginable_. And I'm not going to do it."

"Just thing of how much a waste if you were to hide in the woods for the rest of your life?" Sarah added with what Ethan thought was the _most awesome_ smile imaginable, "And just think how _you wouldn't fit in_ as a hunting guide? Die-hard _Star Wars_ fans, gamers . . . and hunters aren't usually the same people."

"It's a blockbuster franchise" said Ethan defensively, but with a grin none the less. He added with his old eagerness "My living in the woods as a werewolf wouldn't have been half the waste as you staying a vampire!"

"Or the waste if we do nothing but complain the whole time" Sarah added looking at Ethan.

"It is the waste of a road trip" joked Ethan. "And . . . ."

Ethan growled as he was suddenly pitched forward.

"I had to brake" said Erica impatiently. "A cat ran in front of the car."

"I didn't see a cat" insisted Rory.

"You can't see anything in the dark" Erica rebutted.

"But it's not dark yet" Rory muttered.

Ethan didn't complain. Vampire restaurant or not, he felt he _owed_ Erica for saving him that morning (well, other people from him but it amounted to the same thing).

* * *

The _Thunder Bay Plaza Hotel and Spa_ was, in Ethan's view, a very boring looking building. Other than the brilliantly white front entrance (which had an overhang, or a "porte-cochere" shielding a couple taxis and many, many light-bulbs), the building was a dull, grey brick with windows regularly spaced.

The hotel had valet parking.

"We can park our own car" Benny argued from the rear-driver's side window. But Erica ignored him, and honked the car for the valet. She handed over the keys with a smile.

"Sorry kid. Hotel policy" said the white haired valet.

At a second look, Benny realized the valet calling him "kid" was only a few years older than him. Benny tried his best impression of Ethan's "shooting invisible laser beams from his eyes" look, but the valet was too busy with a clipboard to notice.

The valet wore sunglasses, like Benny, but upon him taking them off to write the license plate down on a form, everybody understood why. The young man's eyes were a watery reddish-blue.

"Whoa, you're a real albino" said Rory. "Cool."

The valet gave a short, rueful laugh.

"No offense meant dude. I'm almost an albino" Rory said, a bit red-faced.

"He's just immature" said Sarah, giving Rory an annoyed look.

"I get kids like him sometime" shrugged the valet after a moment's tension.

He turned back to Rory.

"No problem, kid. But almost isn't the same" the valet told Rory. "Would you believe how much sun screen I use?"

"I can guess" said Sarah dryly.

"Whose car is this?" asked the valet. "Hers or yours?"

" _Don't put me together with Rory!"_ interrupted Erica.

"It's Malcolm Brunner's" said Ethan quckly. "He's a friend and he's lending it to us . . . ."

"Brunner?" said the valet, looking up. "I know that name. Cars are my hobby. Is Malcolm Brunner related to . . . ."

"Have you seen this girl?" said Ethan quickly, passing the valet a photo.

"I'm not supposed to talk about other guests" said the valet, averting his eyes.

"Will this help?" asked Erica, or in fact, she cooed. She passed him a twenty-dollar bill.

The valet looked at the photo again.

" _Her?_ " he spat, his blue-red eyes burning. "For _her_ , I wouldn't even take the money. _I'll tell you everything I know_. And my buddy, one of the bellboys, he'll back me up. And I can get Sophie . . . my girlfriend . . . she'll . . . . meet me in the garage, outside the elevators in the sub-basement. One hour. I talk here I'm fired."

"What's your name?" asked Sarah, as the valet sat in the driver's seat.

"Pete" he said.

The last thing they heard him say before he rolled the car down the steep slope to the garage was " _Leeblain. Let her rot there, if she can even find the darn place._ "

"Your friendly neighbourhood valet" joked Benny, and when Sarah and Erica stared at him. "Pete, like Peter Parker? _Spiderman_?"

" _Spiderman_?" sighed Erica.

"Forget _Spiderman_ " said Sarah, who being used to this, was more entertained than irritated. "We might have a hotel full of people who'll can tell us where Stephanie's going. I can't believe she won't go five minutes without making a new enemy."

"I'm surprised Grandma even gave her a second chance" Benny said as he replaced his sunglasses and went in.

"I'm still surprised this is the coolest place she's stopped so far" Erica complained. "If I had to follow a witch around you'd think . . . I wish this was more like Dusk."

"I can't believe Erica still loves Dusk" Rory said as he followed the others. "It's bogus, every word is _fubrecarb_."

Ethan was about to reply how uneasy he felt going into a large hotel. But as he stepped in, he had to go back. _The stench, the atrocious rotting putridity, made his gasp for air._

But Ethan was the only one who smelt it. He supposed that his over-sensitive nose was acting up again, and concentrated on Sarah.

Ethan went inside only conscious of a slight staleness in the air.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Thanks to MBAV fan66 for the idea to refer to Ethan as "Were-Ethan" when he was a werewolf.


	32. Stink Bomb Hotel

**Stink Bomb Hotel**

Once on the other side of the revolving doors, Ethan had a good view of the lobby.

His friends had left him for the moment. Rory had wandered off to look around, the girls had gone straight to the front desk, and Benny decided to lean against the wall and text Della.

Ethan tried to judge if he would have thought the hotel cool-looking; that is if he still had his natural thoughts and senses! It did look like ultra-modern, like something you might expect if you staying at a hotel in outer space. But it also reminded Ethan of a hospital.

Benny finished texting Della, and looked around for himself. But quickly.

"This place is pretentious as heck" Benny said to Ethan, who nodded in reply.

* * *

The lobby of the plaza hotel was paneled with brilliantly white tiles. Uncomfortable looking modern chairs hovered about a glass coffee table. Ethan had the feeling that you weren't supposed to sit on them . . . just look at them. Stainless steel elevator doors looked as anti-septicaly clean as a surface in an operating room. A tall staircase connected to the "Mezzanine" level and the "Main Ballroom".

There were signs pointing to the "Salt Water Swimming Pool", "Spa Wing", "Concierge, "Harbour-side Restaurant", "Gift Shop" and, in an eyebrow-raising coincidence, "Captain Morgan's English Pub".

"Maybe not so pretentious" said Benny, smirking. "English Pub! I bet they'll serve us" said Benny. "Or you, buddy, at least."

"I don't think having my first drink when I'm a werewolf is a good idea" said Ethan sarcastically. "You might not have noticed, Benny, but I'm exactly in control of myself now."

"Morgan?" suggested Benny. "It's a sign."

"It's a coincidence" Ethan retorted. "They probably named it after the pirate. Or even the rum that's named after the pirate."

"How do you know so much about rum?" Benny said.

"They advertize during hockey games" Ethan said.

"Yeah, they do . . . but what if Stephanie went in?" said Benny

"We'll ask Peter Parker" Ethan joked. "If he says yes, we'll ask the bartender or . . . someone."

" _Barmaid_?" suggested Benny.

Ethan smirked as he imagined Benny hitting on a barmaid.

"I don't think they're called barmaids anymore" Ethan said. "Probably . . . just waitresses?"

* * *

There was also a sign pointing toward the Front Desk. This was unnecessary, as the desk was straight ahead on the far side of the room and didn't need an introduction. Ethan also thought the desk didn't need the six analog clocks telling him what time it was in Los Angeles, London, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Tokyo and Sydney.

"They forgot Thunder Bay" Benny pointed out, snickering.

Ethan nodded, still disconcerted. Benny, Ethan, and Rory (who had finished scouting out the restaurant and pool) joined the girls in time to book connecting rooms from the thin young woman at the desk. Price, $270 for one night.

"You're probably impressed that we're booking the best room in the house" bragged Benny, as he leant on the desk.

"No" said the woman. "The only thing that impresses me is that breath of yours. It reminds me of the stink bomb someone set off this morning."

"A stink bomb?" laughed Rory. "Those are the _best_! _Doug Falconheart_ says stink bombs meet all the rules for an awesome prank. Embarrassing, cool, no one gets hurt except in their ego. I ought to try it!"

"Grow up, Rory" said Sarah, who hated stink bombs.

"Where was the stink bomb?" asked Ethan.

"That's private information, young man" sniffed the woman.

Ethan was taken aback by the reply, and even had to swallow yet another growl.

"Well, uh . . . our two rooms . . . are they the best rooms you have?" asked Ethan at last.

" _No_ " said the woman. "If you want the best rooms for your money, you would be better off picking a two room suite in the penthouse. It's $350.00. It has a panoramic view."

"We'll take that."

"Look who's _finally_ opening up our expense account" said Erica, when the desk clerk had gone to a computer along the far wall behind the desk.

"Stephanie would have stayed on the most expensive floor" said Ethan, decisively. "And it doesn't look as if we'll get any information from the front desk."

"Speak for yourself" said Erica. "Is the spa still open?"

"Yes, do you want a spa treatment for yourself?"

"Yes, I do" said Erica. "And make it the most expensive one you have."

"But . . . ." started Ethan.

"They might know something" said Erica obnoxiously.

"It would be cheaper to go to the bar" muttered Benny.

"Our expert staff knows everything" said the desk clerk. "I'll mark you down for _the works_. It includes a cucumber facial, a massage, a mud-pack, a manicure, a pedicure, and a trip to our steam room."

"Cucumbers?" said Benny, while Ethan silently laughed.

"Hey, I'll go too" said Rory, his face beaming.

"Why'd you want that?" said Ethan

"You don't seem the spa type" said Sarah.

"Especially since, post-bloodsucker, you were sunburned by some idiots who left you on a tanning bed too long" Ethan reminded Rory.

"Yeah, well" started Rory. "Where else am I going to see girls wrapped in nothing but towels."

"I can't believe I didn't think of that!" said Benny.

Ethan, in spite of himself, gave a very toothy grin.

"Geeks" said Erica.

"No, just guys in general" Sarah corrected.

"Well, we did think of it" said the woman, haughtily. "No men . . . _or boys_ . . . in the woman's spa rooms."

"I don't think I want to put cucumbers all over my face anyways" Rory concluded.

* * *

The two bedroom suite was _something;_ complete living room with desk, arm chairs, minibar, and large television; two bedrooms each with two king sized beds each.

There was also a fold-out sofa bed in the living room, which Rory reflected was to be his.

"Still enjoying sleeping?" said Erica sarcastically, as she looked at Rory unfold his bed.

"It's four o'clock" Rory retorted. "I'm just trying it out for size. And maybe a late night watching a movie _if_ we get a good lead for tomorrow."

"Aren't you tired of sofa beds?"

"When your pals are cursed" Rory said, "you've got to make sacrifices. Especially if one of them is _dead tired_ and the other spent last night howling, chasing trucks and shredding raw moose. Plus this puts me right next to the mini-bar. Chips and chocolate bar jackpot."

"I don't believe you"

"I don't believe _you_ " Rory said indignantly, as he tried out the bed, and it was a comfortable bed at that. "You're such a downer. We're on an adventure to save our closest friends . . . ."

"Your closest friends"

"My best pals from being monsters for life" Rory said. "You know what, this is pay back time. For what they've done for me . . . for us. And we're getting closer to Stephanie. I can feel it."

* * *

" _I can smell it_ " said Ethan to Benny, as they walked into the room while Erica left. "The stink bomb, on this floor."

"He stuffed cotton up his nose" Benny told Sarah, as she also walked into the room.

"Ethan thinks the stink bomb is connected to Stephanie?" Sarah said, irritated. "I hate to tell you guys. Not everybody is a Doug fan-boy. Cheerleaders and stink bombs don't go together."

"It's a particular smell" said Ethan, as Team Sabre locked their suite door and walked into the hotel corridor. "Sulpur, a rotten egg smell."

"Or, as the alchemists used to say, brimstone" said Benny.

"When Jesse appeared in the forest, he stunk of it" said Ethan awkwardly. "I was still . . . me at that time. I think Stephanie had just summoned him."

"Ethan, you don't mean she pulled him right from . . . ." started Rory.

"We did the same thing with the _Spirit Speaker_ " Benny pointed out.

"Jesse's been there and back again" Ethan said tersely. "The man's been a murderer, vampire, cultist, corrupter of souls . . . ."

"I can't stand that stench" growled Ethan, pausing as he grimaced. "You've got to smell it now?"

"Yeah" said Benny, sniffing. "But it's not just rotten eggs. It's . . . rot. You know, when Jesse . . . died and rotted away when he was cured of being a vampire. You know what . . . it sort of smells good. It makes me . . . hungry."

Benny sniffed some more.

Ethan stared at Benny with his shooting-imaginary lasers from his eyes stare, although it didn't work that well. Ethan's "imaginary aim" was shaky due to Ethan's trying to wrinkle his nose at the same time he was shooting the lasers from his eyes.

* * *

The room of the "stink bomb" suite had been left open. Judging by the sound, inside the suite much of spraying, polishing and vacuuming was going on. Team Sabre looked in, wrinkling their noses in disgust as a well-masked cleaning crew was attacking every surface in sight with strong smelling chemicals.

"If this latest treatment doesn't work we'll have to replace everything in this room" said a man in coveralls and a mask, to a middle-aged woman who was, judging by her sharp suit and skirt, the manager or owner.

"That's what you get for putting up with a guest like that" said the woman, who turned to the door to see Sarah, Benny and Rory. "You there! Sorry, but this room is closed for cleaning. I think you can smell why!"

Ethan had smelt it so bad, he couldn't stay there without acting the part of a growling or leastways panting _werewolf_. So he had retreated halfway down the hallway, where he caught his breath.

"We sure can!" said Benny.

"What kind of person would do this?" said Sarah.

Sarah knew. But she was making conservation, small talk being one skill she had that Ethan and his friends lacked.

"A real . . . _witch_ , that's who" said the man. "It's not everyday a girl who looks like that can make a bad impression among almost the entire staff."

"And in a hotel this size!" said the woman. "She asked about my grandfather's days. Well, I should have told her he would have, law or no law, thrown her out on her ear."

"What did she ask?" asked Sarah.

"About the old resort" said the man, who now took out a foul green smelling chemical to try and spray the sofa. "There. Now, ask Ms. Blaine. She loves to talk about the place! Even more than I do."

And he pointed absentmindedly to the portrait on the wall of the happy vacation goers.

"Thanks, Fredericks" said the woman. "It's true. I hate to date myself, but the two of us were both there as children! That's the old _Leeblaine Hotel_ , in 1956. Gunflint Lake. Leblaine, Ontario. Leeblaine was a mining town, but my family knew it as a good place for a summer resort once the gold dried up. A lovely place. Not as modern or as full of conveniences as our hotel here, but larger. It's was a few hours away from here to the northwest, just north of the U.S. border. The lake was warm in the summer, so you had swimming, fishing, hunting. But the railroad line closed, and it just didn't make sense to run the place without proper road access. We sell a coffee-table book about the old place in the gift shop."

"Could you stay there now?" asked Rory.

" _Goodness no_ " said Ms. Blaine. "It's a ruin, it was boarded up when it was abandoned. But the cold winters and damp summers meant the rot took the place very quickly. It didn't last ten years before it fell into a pile of rubble. But some ghost town hikers like to go there, but there's only a couple of shacks in what used to be the main town site. It's very difficult to reach. There's the old railroad bed for snowmobiles or ATV's, or, in summer, access by boat from the US."

The three teens thanked Ms. Blaine and Fredericks.

* * *

"Nicer than the desk clerk" said Sarah, as the three walked down the hall to meet Ethan.

When a guest damages one of your best suites, I guess you don't care much about their privacy" said Ethan, with a grin, although he tried to shuck the smell. " _I heard everything_. It looks like Stephanie's gone to Leblaine, unless she's gone to a lot of effort to plant a false trail. I guess we'll get the book, meet Peter Parker and see what he and his friends have to say."

"Maybe we should ask Fredericks" suggested Rory. "He knew Stephanie was a witch."

"No, Rory" said Sarah impatiently. "He just called Stephanie a witch for the same reason you use heck and frack."

" _I get it_ " said Rory. "What's that? Sounds like somebody's stomach?"

" _You got it_ " said Benny angrily, who had continued sniffing for much of the interview. "I'm starving. I'll catch up with you in the parking garage."

Ethan, Sarah and Rory looked after Benny, mystified, as he ran down the hallway to the elevator. The elevator not starting right away, Benny ran to the stairwell, and they heard him take the steps down two at a time.

"It looks like the hungry-zombie face" said Sarah uneasily. "We better follow him in case he tries to go for any human brains."

"Benny will be okay" said Rory. "I think."

"I guess that smell makes counterfeit zombies hungry" said Ethan, somewhat guiltily. "I shouldn't have given him the invisible-laser-beams shooting from my eyes.

* * *

The three of them waited for the elevator. There was a short delay, the bellboy was moving the luggage of a guest who had brought no less than twenty suitcases.

The wait could have been no more than five minutes, still, by the time the three had reached the parking garage, Benny had eaten his remaining stock of brain-food.

At least Benny seemed his old self otherwise. He was even browsing the internet on his smart-phone.

"There's a place that sells speciality sausages here" said Benny. "Chicken heads and chilled beef brains. But they're closed, so we'll have to wait for them to open at nine tomorrow morning."

"I was thinking, after we had some more info, we could start for Leeblaine" Ethan complained. "Now you have to make us wait around to stop at the _Temple of Doom_ caterers."

" _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ had chilled monkey brains, not beef brains" Benny pointed out angrily. " _Completely different_. Besides, Ethan, not exactly a good idea to run in on a witch, haunting a ghost town, in the middle of a night. With or without night vision."

"We need to get snowmobiles" said Ethan bitterly. "Or rent a Jeep, Hummer or something else that will get us there. That'll take time."

"No we don't" said Benny, patting the Challenger fondly. " _When Grandma makes it so a car's impossible to get stuck, it can drive anywhere_. Although, Ethan, it doesn't protect the paint job from _your_ claw-marks."

" _Funny_ " Ethan had tried to say it sarcastically, but it came out as a growl accompanied by a full-yellow eyed stare.

"Yeah Ethan?" Benny retorted. "Lucky we can laugh. We were the ones inches from being werewolf food."

" _Drop it!_ " Sarah said, with her hands out separating the two. "You don't want to argue about zombie versus werewolf _culinary preferences_."

"Is there really much to argue? Zombies, werewolves, vamps" Rory observed. "All cannibals."

"When you consider not one of them is really human" Benny said, "they're not cannibals.

"Not even being truly human is just as depressing as being a cannibal at heart" Ethan concluded.

Ethan and Benny settled their argument with a Roman handshake.

"Dudes" said Rory, cheerily. "Remember, Leeblaine. _Leeblaine_. At first I thought the name was bogus . . . but it grows on you. Where all our problems end"

* * *

" _Leeblaine Hotel, 1956. Gunflint Lake. Leblaine, Ontario. Built outside the old mining and logging town, this predecessor to the Thunder Bay Plaza Hotel and Spa was closed when the Port Arthur and Duluth Railroad discontinued service to the town and hotel site."_

So read the white-haired, red-eyed valet from the the hardcover book on _The Leeblaine, Port Arthur and Thunder Bay Plaza Hotels"_

The valet had been joined by his girlfriend, the petite black-haired maid, and his buddy, the bellboy with the bad complexion.

"Dude, what did she do to you?" asked Benny.

"Burst into laughter, called me a freak" said the valet. "Said if I didn't . . . did that witch do anything to your eyes?"

Benny removed his sunglasses, causing the valet to start.

"She did something to your teeth, kid. Didn't she? And I can't be the only one to notice how hairy the backs of your hands are."

This remark was directed at Ethan. Ethan shrugged self-consciously, and quickly stuck his hands in his pockets.

"She does have . . . there are . . . strange powers" pondered the valet. "She was here only two days, and made enemies of everyone."

"You know she has magical powers?" asked Ethan.

"Strange things seemed to happen around her" said the maid, as she put her arm on the valet. "Little accidents, elevators sticking, people tripping. Those high school girls wandering into the hotel confused, and returning this morning to apologize. And, of course, that invisible stink bomb when Stephanie left."

"Could she . . . turn you into something?" asked the valet nervously.

"I think she could" said Ethan dryly. "Why?"

"She said, as an albino, I be better off as a white rabbit or a white lab rat" said the valet bitterly. "Stephanie even said she knew someone who was coming to the hotel who regularly ate rats."

"Not anymore!" Rory said indignantly.

"That's a long story" said Sarah quickly. "Let's just you were lucky that all she did was insult you."

"With any luck, we'll take care of her so she won't be a danger to anybody else" said Ethan.

"Well, I hope you can rent or buy a Hummer" said the valet. "You'll need it to track her down at Leeblaine. Stephanie will probably be able to make it in her Land Rover, if barely. The finish will be scratched like heck, the trail's so narrow."

"I heard Stephanie mention something about a _Winnebago_ " said the bellboy. "She said she had hoped she wouldn't have to call for it, but she'd need it."

"Probably as a place to stay when she was there" said the maid.

"Yeah, Winnebago makes off-road models" said the valet. "I've parked a few of them behind the hotel. I don't get off-roaders who combine adventure with a trip to a spa. Seems hypocritical to me."

"Do you mind driving out our Challenger?" asked Ethan. "I think we have some places to go this evening."

"If you want to" said the valet. "You know, our restaurant and coffee shop can't be beat. But I'd really advise the room service."

"You're paid to say that, aren't you?" asked Benny.

The three hotel employees stared after Team Sabre as they drove away. Ethan was sure he could hear the word " _werewolf_ ". And being discovered so easily made him cringe.

* * *

The next couple hours were spent in getting camping supplies. Sarah and Rory picked up some road maps, sleeping bags, matches, and lanterns. While Sarah and Rory were busy were camping supplies, Ethan quietly bought some better fitting shoes and socks ( _size sixteen!)_.

Benny called his grandmother. Evelyn was surprisingly non-judgmental about his stuffing himself with her "brain-food", only advising him not to do it again if he could possibly help himself. As for not trying to surprise Stephanie by night, Evelyn was in wholehearted agreement.

"You're right, dear" Evelyn told Benny. "The night isn't inherently evil. In fact, the night is, in its way, _as beautiful and as natural as the day_. You know the song _It's A Wonderful World_. T _he bright blessed day and the dark sacred night?_

"No" Benny admitted. "Was it one of yours and Grandpa's favourites?"

Evelyn ignored the question.

"But the night is also when, under cover of darkness, the powers of evil are exalted. So it's best not to try to surprise Stephanie at night."

As for Malcolm, he had finally given up scrutinising their expenses.

" _Thought more about what happened to Ethan_ " was what he wrote in his text. " _Just get cured. The ten thousand's a write off, but try to get my car back in one piece._ "

* * *

Team Sabre returned to the hotel to have a gourmet dinner in the "table d'hotel".

"It's more gourmet than dinner" Benny told everybody as he looked at his small portion of steak and vegetables. "And it's not the counterfeit zombie in me speaking."

It wasn't, because not only Ethan, _but Rory_ thought they were being cheated by a small meal at a high price.

"You're supposed to savour the meal" Sarah told Ethan.

"Another time, I guess" said Ethan.

* * *

In their suite, the four placed a large roadmap on the desk. An update to Stephanie's banking account proved she had bought gasoline on Highway 11 in Kashabowie, the last village on the main road before the turn off to the ghost town.

From Kashabowie, a series of white lines marked back roads and trails. At the end of the faintest and most distant of these lines, in tiny white letters, were the words "Leeblaine" followed by "ghost town" in italics. Below the town was one of the many lakes in the area. Past the lake, was a black line across the map marking the American border.

"It's almost too bad we're not crossing through America" said Sarah. "I'd like to use my new passport."

"Let me see that" said Ethan eagerly. "I'll trade you!"

Rory and Sarah had each, gleefully, recently had new passport photos taken and replaced (Rory had some trouble convincing his parents on the expense, as his old passport still had two years to run). Benny's showed him when he entered high school at age 14 and several inches shorter. As for Ethan's passport, he (slightly embarrassingly) had his twelve-year-old self posing for the camera.

* * *

The four were still exchanging passports, when Erica returned from her visit to the spa.

Erica too, had a new passport photo. Somehow, being "reduced" to human didn't make her any less happy about getting one than either Rory or Sarah. But she didn't want to exchange passports with the geeks.

"I had an amazing time" Erica announced. "And the gourmet dinner, in the hotel dining room, it's the best. Ethan, I think the way they prepare the steak, you'll love it."

"Werewolves are for quantity over quality" Ethan said dryly. "I found that out the last few weeks."

"Did you find out anything about Stephanie?" asked Sarah.

"Only that she found the spa to be an incredibly smoothing experience after days of travel" Erica said. "But I don't think that's what you're looking for? Any word on where she'd going next?"

"Leeblaine" said Ethan, Benny and Rory together.

"What's a Leeblaine?"

* * *

 _Erica was soon brought up to speed on the afternoon's events._

"Stephanie isn't the type who'd go camping in a Winnebago" Erica said. "Maybe you three would think it were fun, but Stephanie's more my type."

"Well, the new Erica" Sarah said. "But you're right. She's is a lot like you."

"So? Stephanie's _obviously_ making a stand at site of the old hotel" said Benny. "It's going to be her fortress. Just her versus us."

"But where does her buying a Winnebago fit in?" said Erica.

"They're top-of-the-line RV's" said Rory. "She'd totally buy a Winnebago if she were buying an RV."

" _If_ she were buying an RV" said Sarah.

"That's a real good point" said Ethan from one of the windows.

Some cutting remarks from Erica had annoyed Ethan. Not wanting to argue with her after she saved him that morning (and others from him) . . . nor wanting to act like a werewolf, Ethan wandered to the windows to look out on the landscape.

Ethan looked outside toward the habour, the wind-swept lake and the distant granite hills covered with pines. Although it was now dark outside, everything seemed brilliantly lighted to his werewolf eyes.

He was attracted to the sight of the distant pine woods, but shook the feeling from the head.

" _Why would she buy an RV_?" Ethan said. "While it's clear as night . . . clear as day that she's going to Leeblaine, all we have to prove Stephanie's buying an RV is the bellboy overhearing her say she needs a Winnebago. What if he misheard her? The man's probably substituting something natural and ordinary for something supernatural and . . . weird. What if it wasn't an RV but . . . .

Ethan's mind stalled. The depths of Lake Superior were reflecting the silver-white moon, only one night past full. His first thought was of freedom, the moon couldn't change him for at least another month. But, _he was a werewolf_ , counterfeit or not didn't make too much of a difference here. And he was instinctively forced to act the part.

What Ethan could resist only a week ago, he couldn't now. Ethan looked up at the moon.

"AH, Ah, AH-OOOOOOOOOOOO" he howled loudly.

Again, this was enough to send off a chorus of dog howls from outside. Ethan shut the curtains with his face beet red.

"Forget it" said Sarah, as Ethan sat in a chair speechless with humiliation.

Ethan would have been more humiliated had he realized an important clue slipped his grasp when he started howling at the moon.

Stephanie had been reluctant to summon the demon, the Windego. She hadn't now or ever wanted to buy a Winnebago.

 **Author's Note**

There is/was a Leeblaine, Ontario. Its history is significantly different than that given here. For example, Leeblaine was never the site of a large resort hotel.

Evelyn refers to What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. Her line about night being when "the powers of evil are exalted" is directly from the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.


	33. Beyond Burchell Lake

**Beyond Burchell Lake**

Ethan awoke to find himself locked in a giant iron cage at the _Budapest Zoo_. He knew he was at the _Budapest Zoo_ because there was a large sign on his cage reading:

 _The Budapest Zoo presents the one and only genuine "Counterfeit Canadian Werewolf". Canis lupis lycanthropic canadianius. Ethan Philip Morgan. Aged Sixteen. Whitechapel, Ontario, Canada._

Ethan was wearing his normal clothes (and his normal body), and the inside of his cage was fitted up like his room.

"Let me out" said Ethan, struggling with the bars.

But nobody was around, just a dark, impenetrable mist.

Suddenly, out that gloom stepped Jesse. Jesse had finally changed his clothes, and could mock Ethan from the comfort of a black jacket and jeans.

"Here is he, boss" said Jesse. "Perfect example of a were-whelp."

"Stephanie!" said Ethan.

"No" said Jesse.

"You don't mean . . ." started Ethan.

"No, I don't" said Jesse. "But meet my new buddy!"

An enormous bat flew into view. In a puff of smoke, the creature turned into a pale man with slicked-back black hair, bedecked in cape and a very old-school tuxedo.

"No, it can't be!" Ethan protested.

"It is!" said Jesse. "Isn't it, my lord?"

"I bid you . . . velcome . . . Ethan Phillip Morgan" said the man in a deep voice with a heavy Hungarian accent. "I am . . . _Dracula_."

"You can't be!" Ethan protested, in something like a sob. "You're just a character in a book. And you look like the famous actor, Bela Lugosi. I mean, there was a historical prince called Dracula, but you're . . . _just the vampire from the novel?_ "

"Such nonsense he speaks, Jesse" said Count Dracula. "And you told me he was very clever . . . for a boy who had not even yet lived a single lifetime. A boy who has not even reached a man's estate."

"He is" said Jesse. "He's a brilliant hacker. Hacked right into Stephanie's account with the _Bank of Hamilton_."

"He is also a verewolf . . . one of the children of the night" said Count Dracula. "Oh, what music they make! And you say he has a very healthy howl?"

"You won't get him to howl of his own free will" said Jesse.

"Never mind the howling. I have a much more important task, for our young lycanthropic friend. Now, Ethan Philip Morgan. you shall take me to the home of . . . Sa . . .rah. Your beloved . . . Sa. . .rah . . . shall be _blood of my blood_ when I sink my fangs into her neck."

"NEVER you dirty old creep" said Ethan. "NO! NO!"

"Then I shall make you" said the count. " _Look into my eyes, Ethan Philip Morgan!_ "

"NO!" said Ethan, going to the back of the his cage and avoiding the glowing red, not glowing yellow, eyes.

* * *

And then Dracula, Jesse, and the Budapest Zoo disappeared as Ethan fell to the floor tangled in his bedsheets.

Fortunately, all Count Dracula had managed to do was wake Ethan from another nightmare.

"It's 2 am!" yelled Benny, from the bed across the room. "You don't want to wake Sarah! It's un-cool to be disturbed by a bad dream."

"Tortured is more like it" complained Ethan as he brushed off his pajamas, and dragged himself and his sheets back into bed. "But why are you up?

"Maybe it's your shouting?" said Benny sarcastically. "Or maybe because I haven't been sleeping as deeply tonight as usual. I had to sneak into the hotel kitchen a few hours ago and swipe some fish heads."

"Fish heads?" asked Ethan.

"Fish heads, fish brains" said Benny.

"Do they work?"

"They're okay.

Ethan remembered uncomfortably his scoffing at Benny's problems the day before.

"I think I'd sooner eat a fish head than rat's blood" volunteered Ethan awkwardly.

"Those fish brains will keep me until the specialty butcher opens, Ethan" said Benny, with a yawn. "I'm as sick as being the brain-eating zombie as you are of being the howling werewolf. I think I"ll snatch myself a _normal_ breakfast first thing."

Benny made a face and dropped back to sleep.

* * *

Breakfast in a top hotel meant silver silverware (and, like the night before, some disposable plastic gloves Ethan covertly wore and removed). For Rory, it meant Eggs Benedict with peameal bacon. For Sarah, it meant Eggs Florentine. Erica felt like a spinach and cheese souffle. Benny, maybe liking last night's fish, had Eggs Benjamin with smoked salmon.

Ethan had a rare steak and eggs. A bull moose only lasted so long.

* * *

Team Sabre plus Erica were in and out of the butcher shop in less than fifteen minutes. Ethan stood quietly by the shop door with his sunglasses firmly on eyes that were, in spite of his best efforts, glowing furiously yellow from the overwhelming fragrance of raw meat. As for everybody else, they didn't find any chicken heads for sale, but Benny left with a cooler full of sausages made from cow's brains.

"I'm happy that's over . . . for now" said Ethan, looking in the side-view mirror at his natural brown eyes, and smiling back at Sarah. "Now, on to Leeblaine."

* * *

Sarah had won a coin toss with Erica, settling the question of who'd do the last day's driving. As for Ethan, past experiences meant that, finally, Erica conceded that Ethan had to ride shotgun.

Erica occupied the seat behind Sarah (and listened to _Dusk_ through headphones). Benny had the seat behind Ethan. Rory was in the back middle. And wishing he had a better spot, especially as Erica crammed a suitcase next to her so Rory wouldn't brush against her.

Most traffic disappeared with Thunder Bay, as the Highway 11 and 17 condominium continued northwest for several miles out of town. Finally, 17 went north as the uncontested route of the Trans-Canada Highway. It would wander through another four hundred miles of tree and rock before reaching Manitoba, the fertile prairies, and the City of Winnipeg. The "Gateway to the West".

Highway 11 now travelled directly to the east, parallelling the old fur trader's portage route. Four hours away was the extreme northwest of Ontario, the Rainy River District. Here one would find the small town of Fort Frances, and the agricultural lands along Rainy Lake and the south-eastern end of the Lake of the Woods. At Fort Frances, one could travel back to Highway 17 by way of the cottage community at Sioux Narrows. Or one could cross the border at Fort Frances to International Falls, Minnesota; or again where Highway 11 itself ended as it crossed the Rainy River into the United States.

But this time of year, there were few people on Highway 11 as it went through 250 miles of almost uninterrupted forest. The only event of note was Ethan determinedly adjusting the car's clock when they crossed the boundary from Eastern to Central time.

Ethan was relieved he had his space riding shotgun beside Sarah. The soup bone stayed in his backpack. Yet, it still wasn't an easy trip. There was nothing like travelling through nearly deserted woods on a cloudy day to make him feel as much a werewolf as ever.

* * *

Near the hamlet of Kashabowie, the Challenger turned off onto the little used Highway 802. This highway, a joke on the word "highway", was only seven miles long and gravel until near the end. The final two miles were paved, as it led up to abruptly ended at a locked gate. This was Burchell Lake.

Until recently, an abandoned mining town had lain just beyond the gate. Built in the nineteen fifties and abandoned ten years later, most of the town stood silently in the woods, a time capsule. But the long, silent town had been torn down the year before, and all that was left was a pile of rubble and signs saying "No Trespassing" and "Private Property".

But before the fence, and immediately to their right, was a small roadway covered knee-deep in snow.

"We go down that way" said Ethan, looking at a map of the trails in the area. "It's a private road to some summer cottages around here. And when we reach the end, we take an old logging road. That turns into a trail. Then we'll finally reach what's left of the old rail line, which will take us to Leeblaine . . . Benny, do you swear that this car can't get stuck?"

" _Or fall through an old rail bridge_?" Sarah added.

" _On my honour as a Jedi_ " said Benny. "That reminds me, we've got to gear up."

The next several minutes were spent as Ethan, Benny and Rory left the car. The three "Jedi" retrieved their scabbards and retractable UV light sabres from the trunk. And then, acting as if he had raided an armoury, Benny handed out water pistols carefully filled with holy water.

Erica and Sarah had also left the car, mostly to stretch. Sarah took her water gun with a brief thanks, but Erica looked at the one Benny handed her skeptically.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Erica skeptically. "Water guns?"

" _On a witch who sold her soul to the devil for magical powers_!" said Benny bluntly. "Hit by holy water she'll be as powerless as when we last blasted her last _soul-stealing scheme_. Remember how . . . ."

Benny opened his mouth to remind Erica how holy water had melted Jesse's entire gang of vampires, but on looking at her deadly expression clamped his teeth shut.

"It's just we'll have trouble taking her by surprise" said Ethan.

"No problemo, Ethan. Stephanie's going to be so pawned" said Rory, as he posed like he was in a video game. "We'll just have to rush her _Winnebago!_ "

"If she's not expecting us" Sarah warned glumly.

"We'll just have to deal with it when we get there" said Ethan glumly. "But anyone notice something? Did it snow here last night?"

"How the heck should I know?" said Benny. "Why?"

"How did Stephanie get a _Winnebago_ on this road, without leaving tracks? Even an off-road _Winnebago_?"

"Magic" shrugged Benny. "She's a witch."

"Maybe" said Ethan, uncertainly.

" _Your ears twitch when you're worried_ " Erica interrupted mockingly. "You can see it, even though you've combed your hair over the points.

Ethan looked awkward and covered his ears with his hands.

"I didn't notice" lied Sarah, looking at Ethan and putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I just don't see why there isn't any recent tracks" continued Ethan, as he gave her a thankful grin. "Stephanie could also have gone another way?"

"What are the chances of Stephanie setting all this up, just to plant another false trail?" Rory objected.

" _Thanks_ " said Ethan. "I wasn't even _thinking of that_ Rory!"

"Don't shoot the messenger" said Rory edgily.

"Stephanie just confuses me" Ethan admitted. "I don't just understand what she's doing and why she's doing it. It's not only that she's hiding up north. She's hiding near the ruins of an old hotel in the middle of the bush. It makes no sense!"

"You've got to expect that with a girl who sells her soul _just_ because she wasn't cool in high school" said Benny. "Sells her soul _twice . . . somehow_."

"Ethan, you're not the best at understanding people" said Sarah. "Being a seer gave you the advantage."

"It's still not too late to see being a werewolf an upgrade than reading people's minds" said Erica pointedly.

Erica was met by angry stares from everyone. She shrugged and went back into the car to listen to _Dusk_.

"After two and a half years of this, I'm good with understanding _evil plans_ " Ethan said defensively. "Normal people . . . I guess not."

"Well, one of the reasons she wants to be up here, is you" Benny explained. "She _really_ likes you acting the werewolf. Even more than me being a zombie."

"I get that" complained Ethan, before adding irritably, "I _really_ want to see her a lunch lady again. _If_ she's here."

"Look guys" said Sarah impatiently. "If she did go here or she didn't, we still need to go to Leeblain. You can't just abandon the trail and wait for her to use her credit card again."

"That's right" Ethan agreed, cheering up a little. "She could have always gone by way of the US. The _Superior National Forest_ is south of Leeblaine. But she'd still have to use her magical powers to drive a Winnebago up through there. And she's have to have a GPS to find her way."

"Good thing Malcolm _has_ a GPS" Benny pointed out. "We lost our cell phone reception when we left the Trans-Canada. We'll be able to find Nowherevilles okay."

"I'd double check with the map" said Sarah. "You someone hear about people following GPS directions directly into a lake."

"Sounds like you three" said Erica.

"Well, Nowherevilles here we come" said Ethan wryly.

* * *

The major change after Burchell Lake was they had left good roads behind and were now travelling over what were really a rough, snow-covered track. The rear-wheel drive car, after a second of spinning its wheels in the knee-deep snow, unexpectedly floated atop it as if it were wearing four snowshoes.

Just because the Challenger couldn't get stuck, didn't mean it travelled well on the cottagers' road. And it was even worse when they passed the few rustic homes (closed for the winter), and left that glorified track for the stump-ridden logger's road.

Quickly it became a roller-coaster ride over uneven ground, and a lot of throwing and bouncing about. Rory enjoyed it, but nobody else but Rory.

Benny might have on a better day, but being un-dead took the fun out of everything. It unsettled his stomach. And, being tired _almost_ all the time, he just wanted to lie against his window and sleep.

There was also the fact that Rory was only held in his middle seat by the centre-belt. Although Rory actually did try to stay in place (as much as he enjoyed the ride), he bounced against Benny or Erica on particularly steep grades. Erica, of course, hated this. Especially as once, while Rory was chewing on his stock of garlic cloves, a bounce sent a rogue clove flying from the paper bag into Erica's mouth.

And Erica didn't like garlic; partly because of the smell, partly because of the strong taste, and partly on general principles.

As for Sarah, she just found it embarrassing that she couldn't drive better. Even though a sports car shouldn't have been able to travel there in the first place.

As for Ethan, he felt his eyes start to glow . . . even with Sarah at his side. He started to swallow growls, and finally couldn't help but growl. After over an hour of the bone-shaking drive, Ethan reluctantly stuck the soup bone in his mouth.

"I'll lose it again, if I don't have anything to chew on" Ethan said tersely, red in the face.

"You can try garlic?" suggested Rory.

"I don't think that'll work as well as a bone" said Ethan. "I _wish_ it could."

Ethan placed the soup bone back in his mouth and chewed furiously.

"It's better than growling" volunteered Benny.

* * *

After another hours' driving, the teens reached the point where the logging road crossed the old railroad right-of-way. The rail-bed had been levelled off, and there was a recent set of parallel marks travelling through the snow.

"Snowmobile tracks!" said Ethan, removing the soup bone from his mouth.

"We should really have taken snowmobiles" said Benny.

"How awesome would that be?" said Rory.

"Unstuckable . . . unstickable . . . _whatever_ . . . cars are warmer" said Sarah, with a shrug.

"Cars that can't be stuck" joked Ethan, with a wide grin.

"Maybe Stephanie gave up the _Winnebago_ and took a snowmobile?" suggested Rory.

"Then she should have gone our way" said Ethan. "It's shorter."

"Stephanie's not the type of geek who studies road maps all day" Erica said.

"Better a geek than not knowing where you're going" Ethan replied.

"I _just_ don't see Stephanie detouring by way of the _scenic snowmobile route_ " said Benny.

" _Scenic snowmobile route_ " repeated Sarah dryly, looking at the old railroad right-of-way. "This isn't even wide enough for the Challenger."

"Sarah!" Rory exclaimed. " _Magic . . . unstoppable . . . car! Remember?_ "

"This is going to suck" said Erica.

"Do you want to drive?" asked Sarah cooly.

"On that?" laughed Erica.

"I would" volunteered Rory.

"I'd be the natural one" said Benny. "Being a once and future spell master."

"If you didn't drive us into a tree" said Sarah. "I may as well try to get us there alive."

" _Zombie_ Benny excepted" added Erica, cruelly.

* * *

Sarah started along the old railroad. It wasn't too bad, by driving the "magic unstoppable car" with the driver's side tires balanced on the edge of each side of the partly eroded, railroad embankments. It shouldn't have been wide enough to drive along. But somehow, _it just was_.

But the rail-bed being long eroded, it was still a bumpy ride and the bed very even. So this meant that, from time to time, everybody slid to one side or another, as the car, unnaturally, perched atop the rail-bed with two tires floating over thin air.

Sarah was naturally brave, but turned pale as she tried to control the car. Erica was a screamer; it was too much for her to have Benny and Rory slide over and pin her down. Ethan furiously chewed his soup bone.

The worst was the old wooden railroad trestles. They had been planked for the snowmobiles and hikers who occasionally travelled this way, but they were still too narrow for the car.

"I promise" said Benny, "we can't fall off the side."

Ethan winced travelling across. Erica as well. Sarah took a deep breath. But Benny figured that you didn't get to break the Law of Gravity everyday. So, in spite of the bouncing, Benny, like Rory, started to enjoy himself.

* * *

The road became worse about a half hour from Leeblaine. Although it was the early afternoon, after crossing yet another trestle and passing through a narrow cut between two rocky hills, the teens drove into a thick fog. So thick and so dark, they could barely see the trees at the side of them and the rail-bed and snowmobile tracks ahead.

"Is this natural?" asked Rory, amazed.

"Can Stephanie put up a fog?" Ethan asked Benny, as he again removed the soup bone from his teeth.

"I . . . don't know" Benny admitted sheepishly. "I think . . . I'm hungry."

Ethan sniffed, and growled as he again took in the smell of sulphur mixed with rotting, putrid flesh.

"Not that!" said Ethan, to no one in particular. "Please!"

Ethan tried to get his sense of smell under control again, but couldn't do it before everybody was suddenly thrown forward as Sarah slammed the brakes.

The snowmobile tracks had abruptly ended. Just ahead was a warmly-dressed man slumped beside his _Ski-do_ with his gloved hand frozen upwards as if warding someone or something off. His face was invisible, hidden in a balaclava. His snowmobile was well loaded with supplies, if the full duffel bag was indicative of anything.

And the snowmobile had barely had time to get cold. Ethan recognized the smell of gasoline and motor oil in the forest air.

Ethan and Sarah, in the front seats, rushed out. Rory and Erica followed. Benny was going to leave the car as well, but decided he'd eat his "brain food" instead.

"Are you okay?" said Ethan. " _Uh . . . Sir?_ "

 _"Dude?"_ asked Rory.

"I . . . don't think he's breathing" said Sarah looking closely.

"Look at the build on that guy" said Erica cooly.

 _"Sir?"_ tried Ethan again, in a voice that was both desperate and awkward. "You . . . can't have frozen to death? You knew what you're doing out here?"

Something in Ethan's mind; some unbidden werewolf instinct; told Ethan he was smelling the scent of a corpse.

Ethan, with a shaking hand, took off the man's balaclava to see if he could do anything.

Ethan yelped in fear. Rory just yelled. Sarah and Erica stepped back and looked horrified.

The man couldn't have lain there very long. But all that was behind the ski-mask was a man whose stiff, paper-coloured skin was drawn tightly over the skull . . . without any flesh between the skin and the bone.

And the man had died with a look of horror on his emaciated face.

Ethan wandered over to the duffel bag, which was well supplied with food.

"He . . . starved to death?" said Ethan.

"How?" said Sarah. "He must have been on a snowmobiling trip. He . . . knew what he was doing. How could he starve to death?"

Ethan took a deep breath, coughed because of the smell around him, and then . . . and then Ethan realized what had happened.

"I'll tell you!" said Ethan angrily. _"I can't believe how stupid I am! It's what happens from being turned into a darned dog!_ Last night, when I was howling at the moon _like an idiot_ I forgot all about what I going to say! Look there! See those giant prints?"

In the snow . . . off to the side . . . there were a couple of giant three-toed footprints. Like those Erica and Sarah had seen by the bull moose Ethan had slaughtered two nights before.

"Like the tracks we saw in the woods" said Erica.

" _Huh?_ " said Ethan.

"You weren't the only one who was an idiot" said Sarah. "We saw a few of those the morning after you were a werewolf."

"Oh" said Ethan, awkwardly. "Well, I didn't mean you were . . . ."

"Forget it" ordered Sarah. "What is it?"

"It's not a _Winnebago_ we should be worried about" said Ethan. "We've been thinking about an RV? Stephanie enlisted the Wendigo."

"I've heard of it" said Rory. "He was one of _Vampire Sasquatch_ 's mortal enemies."

"There's nothing mortal about him" Ethan snapped. "He . . . _it's_ a demon of the north. There's stories about how it lures people away, drives them crazy with hunger and starvation. Kills people, like this poor guy here."

"Stephanie murdered him because he was too close to her hideout" said Rory. "What a . . . fracking witch!"

"Well, she had the Wendigo murder him" observed Sarah. "Still, same difference."

"Smart" said Erica.

Ethan was so angry at the remark in front of the murdered man, and annoyed with the smell, he didn't bother to stop the loud snarl that _even scared Erica_.

"Ethan . . . you're human" Sarah reminded Ethan bluntly. "Think."

 _"Yeah . . . uh . . . where was I?_ Yeah . . . there's something called Wendigo syndrome. The Wendigo even turns people into hungry cannibals . . . cannibals . . . Benny?"

"What's that geek doing?" asked Erica.

Benny had cast off his sunglasses, and white-faced and black-eyes was now stumbling toward them. Muttering to himself.

"Benny?" said Rory. "What's the matter with him?"

"He's turned complete zombie" said Ethan, with a growl. " _Benny . . . keep it together . . . Benny, dude . . . buddy . . . please?_ "

Benny being a counterfeit zombie, had been especially vulnerable to the spell of the Wendigo. He had in short order eaten his entire supply of brain sausages. He had left the car to warn Ethan, Sarah, Rory and Erica that he desperately needed more "brain food".

But by the time Benny reached his friends (and Erica), he couldn't remember why he had left the car. He couldn't even remember who Ethan, Rory or Sarah were. _In fact, Benny couldn't even remember his own name._

All he knew was that he needed to some raw, juicy, _**"BRAINS".**_


	34. Goodbye Benny

**Goodbye Benny**

 _ **"BRAINS . . . BRAINS . . . BRAINS"**_

Benny repeated the phrase in a mechanical groan, his emotionless solid-black eyes contrasting with the rapacious hunger spelt out on his face.

Ethan was at a loss for further words. His best buddy was as beyond reason as Ethan had been a couple nights before! What the heck were they going to do with Benny, deep in the forest, trying to eat their brains? Was this a temporary thing, so long as Benny was under the influence of the Wendigo? Or would it last as long as the counterfeit curse?

And . . . _grrrrrrrrrrrrrr_. Couldn't Ethan's own cursed instincts . . . constantly foisted on him and foreign to his natural way of thinking . . . give him a five-minute break? Why was it that growling was the hardest thing _no_ t to do?

Ethan looked helplessly at Sarah as the four retreated from the plodding, stumbling Benny.

"We have to beat him up, and tie him up" said Sarah, sympathetically. "It's just lucky he moves slow."

Benny took this moment to trip off the railway embarkment and roll down into some bushes.

"If he doesn't beat himself up first" said Erica. "Even as a zombie he's a loser."

"You might be . . . I dunno . . . nice for a change" complained Rory, who had pulled his life sabre from his scabbard, and was brandishing it in front of him. "We're talking about our best bud!"

"Forget Erica" said Ethan acidly, who had with difficulty restrained himself from saying anything harsher. "We have to make sure we catch Benny without hurting him, or letting him bite us. He may be contagious. We may have joked about it but I don't need to be the world's first combination-counterfeit-zombie-werewolf."

Benny slowly climbed up the embarkment, groaning. Not from pain, as it was a low embarkment and a soft landing along the side of the cut.

"Just zombie-movie-style groaning" Rory observed.

Ethan now pulled out his retractable light sabre. Although it wouldn't hurt Benny, it would help keep him away and stop him from biting.

"I guess . . . in modern zombie movies . . . this is why they're usually only a threat in numbers" said Ethan.

"But, uh, who's going to beat him up?" said Rory.

"Me" said Sarah resignedly. "And not for the first time."

But at that moment, their slow, grudging retreat was leading them up to the dead snowmobiler. And that led to another problem.

A crashing noise from immediately behind the teens showed they faced a much greater threat.

* * *

The dead snowmobiler stood up and kicked his snowmobile off the railbed into some stones . . . in such a way that the gasoline poured from the engine (sending the smell of gasoline to mix with the rotting stench the Wendigo had left).

The snowmobiler also groaned, and much faster than Benny, grabbed at the four. His eyes, deep in the skin-covered skull, weren't black but eerily open wide and unblinking.

Along with Erica, Sarah and Roy stumbled down the embankment and against the slope of the steep hill leading up from the cut to the rest of the forest.

Zombie Benny looked blankly down the embankment, before being sent tumbling down again as a casualty of Ethan's fight with the snowmobiler.

"What's Ethan doing?" said Sarah.

"Werewolf instincts" said Erica casually. "He has to take the fight himself, if it's that close to him. He can't wimp out and let you protect him."

Ethan's sunglasses had gone flying, and yellow-eyed he was in a struggle with the burly yet skeletal snowmobiler. Instinct counted for much in this fight, and Ethan held the dead man at bay.

"He shouldn't be up there alone" said Sarah. "I'll . . . ."

" _Brains_ " interrupted Benny. " _Brains . . . brains!_ "

"Let's see about Benny" said Sarah, resignedly. "Rory, get that tree branch, it's short and doesn't look too heavy."

Sarah, Rory and Erica lifted a old fallen limb. A well aimed karate chop by Sarah kept Benny down, and the tree limb on Benny's feet did the rest.

Benny again tried to rise, but didn't realize that he had to take the branch off his ankle first.

"Dude, you can't think can you?" said Rory, sympathetically.

" _Brains . . . brains_ " Benny continued to groan.

"You're giving me a migraine" sneered Erica. " _Brains! Brains_! That's why I hate zombies. You never see a zombie in _Dusk_."

"But how are we going to take him with us?" said Sarah. "And where's Ethan?"

* * *

Ethan was still in a struggle with his intractable foe. Under ordinary circumstances, the man could have beat Ethan black and blue . . . but he was reduced to a skeleton, while Ethan was reduced to having the instincts and protections of a _unnatural_ predator.

The snowmobiler mostly used a lumbering punch; it often missed but it just as often hit Ethan sending him onto the railroad bed with an angry growl on the teen's part. This would have been a serious problem, had it not been for the fact that Ethan was resilient now to everything but silver.

Ethan's premier move was a type of side-swipe punch, delivered with he kept his teeth bared. That worked better as a werewolf than as a human being, where it looked a little dumb. Yet, it was as powerful as the snowmobiler's punches. It staggered the snowmobiler each time . . . but he was resilient, if dead, and he didn't fall.

Unlike during his fight with Malcolm, Ethan's mind was now consumed by anger and instinct. There were three reasons for this. The first was that the dead snowmobiler was a _much more_ dangerous enemy than the invisible (and greedy) teen. The second reason was that in the days that had gone by, the curse had reached it full strength . . . do whatever Ethan could to work against it. The third problem? The place; deep in the fog-bound boreal forest it took very little for werewolf instinct to come on top.

The next punch connected with Ethan, again sending him sprawling to the ground. But this time, in getting up, he accidentally thumbed the water gun filled with holy water. The cold air had meant condensation had formed along the outside of water gun, but the operation of natural forces didn't in any way impede the blessing upon it.

Good again, was stronger than evil.

The water had the happy effect of bringing Ethan back to his full senses.

"That's the difference" Ethan said to himself, "Of not having your soul cursed. And actually being in _my own natural body_ , even if I'm bruised and, well, werewolf-ized. _Even a man who's pure at heart, and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the Autumn moon shines bright._ "

Ethan then spoke to his dead opponent.

"But . . . what's happened to you? You were dead a few minutes ago? And you don't even understand what I'm saying . . . _do you_? You may have been a jock, but I'm betting you were more a Tom Towers . . . even David Stochowski . . . than a Bill Vanlake kind of guy? It takes a real fracking creep to beat up somebody you meet in the middle of the forest! I'm betting you weren't that type of creep!"

Ethan ducked another punch, but nearly ran into Sarah atop the embankment while he was retrieving his light sabre.

"Be careful" warned Ethan. "This man can kill with those Superman punches of his."

"I think I can handle him" said Sarah, not in a bragging voice but in a thoughtful way. "He acts like a zombie."

"I think the poor guy _is_ a zombie" said Ethan, as the two slowly retreated toward the Dodge Challenger. "And not a counterfeit, like Benny. Someone . . . Stephanie I bet . . . is using his body as an puppet. He's an old-school, un-dead slave. A reanimated corpse. He's clumbsy, but he's not interested in brains."

Ethan used his light sabre to keep the zombie away. The zombie misinterpreted it to be an actual sword and stayed back.

"So his soul's gone?" said Rory as he climbed up the embankment.

"As gone as those of the animals Benny brought back to life" said Ethan. "Only this man isn't demon-possessed."

"So we can use holy water on him?" said Rory.

Rory, without waiting for a reply, took that as an invitation to spray the zombie with holy water. But not being demon-possessed, it didn't do much to the snowmobiler besides stall him in his tracks.

"That's his actual body" said Ethan. "It won't dissolve a _real_ person even if his soul's moved on."

"No, but it stopped him for now" said Sarah.

Sarah gave the snowmobiler's zombie a karate kick that sent him down the embankment, albeit the opposite one from Benny. Ethan and Rory scrambled down the short hill after her, and helped her move a much heavier log.

"That's cool" said Rory, relieved. "I hoped the old shoot-the-zombie-in-the-head rule wasn't going to be in play."

"That would be tough" agreed Ethan, adding wryly. "Especially since we don't have an actual gun."

"Are you finished with the zombie yet?" complained Erica, from up the hill.

The snowmobiler, under the log, instead of struggling like Benny, returned to his lifeless, motionless state.

"I think so" said Sarah. "It's too bad we have to leave the poor guy."

"When Stephanie's gone, a search party will find him" said Ethan, sympathetically.

"They'll probably think he died in a accident" said Rory, as he looked at the log.

"It'll be better that way" said Sarah.

Ethan put his arm around her (he felt sorry himself, it had been awhile since he saw someone murdered by evil forces). Along with Rory, they climbed up to the rail-bed, _again_.

They joined Erica in looking down at Benny, still calling for brains.

"You can give him the snowmobilers brains" said Erica.

"No way" said Rory. "Benny'll kill us if he finds out we've let him eat human brains. _Way worse than gulping down human blood._ "

"You know as well as I do that vampires don't _gulp_ down human blood" said Erica, offended. " _We . . . sucked._ "

Rory and Ethan looked stunned for a moment. Then the two burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Sarah, a bit reluctantly, joined in.

"I . . . wish Benny had heard that" said Ethan, as he continued to laugh. "You'd never live it down, Erica."

"That's not what I meant" said Erica, irritated at having looked stupid. In front of geeks, no less. "I . . . _what's that?_ "

It took a good deal to frighten Erica. But she was suddenly speechless.

And everyone else . . . was "laugh-less."

The terrible rotting smell that was in the background had suddenly grown all the more pungent. And the mist thickened. In the background was silence. Even Benny's chorus of "brains, brains" had finally stopped.

Near the snowmobile, with a sound like that of a thunderclap, appeared a creature over ten feet tall.

* * *

The creature had the antlers of an enormous moose, and its head also resembled the lumbering animal. But it was a moose's skull with skiin pulled tightly over it, like that of the snowmobiler now lying dead. And the moose's snout was dominated by bloody lips covering fang coloured teeth. The body was more akin to that of a starved human with arms ending in claws that put a werewolf's to shame. The feet of the creature were the three pronged hooves that had left the enormouse prints from before.

The Windego gaped silently at its four enemies, from its glowing blood-red eyes.

And, in a move that (even in his fear) was all too familiar to Ethan, the Wendigo looked at Ethan as if it was he above all who was the bane of evil monsters everywhere.

As for the four of them, they had not yet seen anything that compared with this.

Erica screamed. _Even Sarah screamed! And Erica screamed a second and third time for good measure._

Rory couldn't help it. He _would have_ yelled a hoarse yell, like a sixteen-year old boy should. But there's a special fear that comes when confronting a ten-foot-plus demon in the northern woods. Humiliatingly, he screamed like a girl and turned red with shame afterwards.

Ethan couldn't help it either. He gave a series of barks and growls that he himself couldn't understand.

It was then that Ethan remembered his water gun. Again, touching the gun brought his mind back into good senses.

"R-Rorster" stammered Ethan, despite his fear. "Quit screaming. We're the only two armed."

Ethan was scared enough that he used Rory's favourite nicknames for himself - something Ethan almost never did.

Rory, still red-faced, didn't think how unusual this was. Rory, simply did as he was told, and pulled his water gun out of his scabbard.

Walking a few quavering steps toward the Wendigo, Ethan and Rory speechlessly gave aim.

With a cry none of them would forget, the demon retreated before the holy water. And wherever the water hit, the demon started to burst into bright red flames. The flames only appeared an instant, before they dissolved into the water.

But as a peripheral shot wasn't enough to destroy a vampire, it wasn't enough to entirely melt or burn the demon away. And aiming at the Windego with a water gun wasn't the same as, say, placing it in a movie theatre under sprinklers spraying out holy water.

Besides, Rory had used much of his ammunition on the snowmobiler. And although Ethan's left the Wendigo a legless entity, he himself was running out.

"We need some more water" said Ethan, in an unsteady voice.

"I'll get my soaker too" said Sarah. "And Erica's."

But as Sarah went to the Challenger, it was already too late.

"What's that?" said Erica.

"It's Benny" said Ethan. "And . . . _he's singing?_ "

" _Oh, my feet, my feet of fire! My burning feet of fire!_ " Benny said, in a weird sing-song voice.

Benny, with a superhuman effort, flung the branch from atop his feet onto the old rail-bed. He scrambled up to where the feet of the Wendigo would have been.

" _Hear this, Ethan_ " said Benny, staring through his black eyes. " _And company!_ "

" _And company?_ " said Rory.

"Rory, what did we say about concentrating!" retorted Ethan impatiently.

"Uh, yeah!" said Rory. "Dude, Benny, get away from there before it claws you!"

" _I speak only for the Wendigo! As Algernon Blackwood could have told you, you have stumbled where the Wendigo has chosen to make his abode!_ " said Benny, in a purposefully mysterious tone. " _You know what I mean, Ethan!"_

"I know" said Ethan, bitterly. "But Kenora's a few hours away."

" _I have been pushed further and further into the wilderness in the past two hundred years"_ Benny went on. _"And made a fugitive in my own domain with the relentless pursuit of civilization. Railroad, the telegraph . . . ."_

"The telegraph?" said Erica, emerging from her shock. "Where have you been!"

 _"Railroads . . . the telegraph . . . the motor car . . . radio . . . cottagers . . . hotels . . . RV's and Winnebagos . . . aeroplanes . . . all reduce my domain and my ability to bring death, disease, hunger and cannibalism on those I touch. But I still have my full powers in my reduced sphere. And you four who have maimed the powers of darkness in your own hometown will pay the price for infiltrating my domain and the witch who had contracted for my powers."_

"Contracted for?" said Rory.

"Through Stephanie's deal with the devil, probably" said Sarah, with a grimace.

" _I, the Windego, claim Benny Weir as my prize"_ said Benny. "You may leave my domain or continue to pursue Stephanie and face the brunt of her powers."

"What right do you have to take Benny?" said Ethan forcefully.

In spite of his fear, Ethan, followed by Rory, then Sarah (who had returned with the water guns) bravely . . . or stupidly . . . ran to Benny and the retreating Wendigo .

The Wendigo was bereft of his feet and legs, but with Benny in tow managed to float out of range of the water guns.

" _Algenon Blackwood_ " said Benny once more. " _And let me tell you, Werewolf, Leeblaine to you is a fate worse than death!_ "

And then both Benny and the Wendigo vanished into thin air!

* * *

"Who the heck . . . _who the frack_ . . . is Algenon Blackwood!" said Rory angrily, as he looked about for any sign of Benny.

"A hundred years ago, Blackwood wrote a novel called The Wendigo" said Ethan, in a defeated tone. "In the story, two hunters take a guide and go on an expedition north of Rat Portage."

Ethan pinched his nose. He could barely stop himself from compulsively sniffing the air about him.

"I know that name, Rat Portage" said Rory.

"You would" said Erica.

"Nuh-uh!" said Rory. "It has nothing with me eating rats as a bloodsucker!"

"It's from when we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame" Ethan said wistfully, turning to Sarah. "Benny, Rory and me, we joked about Rat Portage. About the time the novel was written, years before there was an NHL, there was a hockey team called the Rat Portage Thistles that twice challenged Ottawa for the Stanley Cup."

" _Rat_ Portage?" said Erica.

"They changed the name to Kenora" said Ethan. "That's when they became the champs. 1907, the _Kenora Thistles_."

"Kenora's only about four or five hours from here" Sarah said bitterly. "So we're right in Wendigo country."

Ethan put his light sabre and water gun back in his scabbard.

"In Blackwood's novel, the hunting party smells the Wendigo, and the guide is taken by the Wendigo. The last they hear of the guide he's talking about his feet of fire."

"Do they ever get him back?" asked Rory.

"The guide stumbles back into camp" said Ethan miserably. " _Just to die right away . . . from hunger and the cold._ "

There was a minute's silence.

"Instead of standing around like losers" Sarah said. "Let's try to get to Stephanie before it's too late."


	35. Ghost of a Ghost Town

**GHOST OF A GHOST TOWN**

The rest of the trip passed in virtual silence; all four of the teens silent, brooding and miserable. How could they be anything but?

It reminded Ethan of his worst moments in the past two and a half years. The night of the school dance, when Jesse had outwitted him; out of sheer spite forcing Sarah to be a full vampire to save Ethan's life. And that very first night of Ethan's adventures fighting evil supernatural forces; the vampire party and Benny and him failing in their efforts to rescue Rory.

Rory was also down; even his optimism flagged with one of his two best friends simply vanishing at the side of the Wendigo. Rory, who would never entirely lose the childish facet of his personality, was struck by the _unfairness_ of it all. Yeah, life could be unfair . . . but to be zombified and stolen away by a demon? _What did Benny do to deserve that?_ For the first time it occurred to Rory that they _might actually lose to Stephanie!_

Sarah had always considered Benny _something_ of a jerk. But she did like Benny. Sarah didn't consider him _that much_ a jerk, really, not compared to . . . others she knew. Really, with _a few exceptions_ , he was a good-intentioned dork . . . who was just loud, had a big ego and was desperate to get girls to go for him.

And Sarah was intent on driving to the rescue fast as she safely could. But now, the already impossible trail was constantly shrouded in the thick fog that barely allowed her to see ten feet in front of the car.

As for Erica, a _small_ dose of compassion managed to escape from, well, wherever it had been all but locked away the last couple years. Erica's compassion was mixed with stubborn pride; she was angry at being outwitted! Some demon summoned by Stephanie had stolen Benny and already won the upper hand! And they hadn't even hit Leeblaine!

 _Leeblaine, Leeblaine, Leeblaine_. For the last day that was the force of their efforts. And now, as they neared the ghost town's location, even the GPS went out.

"LOST SATELLITE RECEPTION" announced the upper-crust, Englishwoman whom Malcolm preferred as the GPS' voice. "LOST SATELLITE RECEPTION . . . LOST SATELLITE RECEPTION . . . ."

"There's no reason for the satellite to go out; there's definitely something wrong about this place" said Ethan worriedly, as Sarah turned off the GPS. "We're in the open air."

"Something else wrong besides this being the headquarters of a witch, guarded by a cross between a dead moose and the walking-skeleton of the star forward on the basketball team?" said Erica sardonically.

"I wish Benny was here" Ethan told Sarah. "Not only _so he'd be alive_ , but Mrs. Weir is endlessly giving him lessons on the finer points of being a spellmaster. He must know _how_ exactly our GPS signal is being blocked. It's weird . . . usually magic has no effect on our electronics."

"Must be the hills" said Rory, looking into the foggy gloom.

"Not the hills, it must be the fog" said Ethan. "What are the chances of _both_ our satellite signal fading and a heavy fog appearing just before we reach Leeblaine?"

"The ghost town's on a lake, Ethan" said Sarah. "And we're surrounding by rocky hills. But . . . I think you're right. What . . . are those?"

The road suddenly became unbearably bumpy. Out of thin air, a pair of railroad tracks appeared and the car now bounced magically over the tracks and ties that had been removed decades ago.

Magically was the word, as the Challenger rode too low to be driven atop railroad tracks through ordinary means.

"Why the heck . . . why the _frack_ . . . did they leave these in the middle of a snowmobile trail?" complained Rory, as his seatbelt didn't stop him from bouncing his head on the ceiling a couple times. " _Whoah! Oof! Ow_."

Rory pulled down his tuque, and like everybody else was already doing, held onto the side of the seat.

"They didn't leave these tracks" said Sarah, as she gripped the steering wheel hard. "This is another one of Stephanie's spells."

Ethan didn't say anything, but did his best to growl as little as possible.

"What next!" Ethan finally said sulkily.

What was next was the car finally rounding a curve and Sarah again hitting the brakes.

Everything here was as silent as the grave. Not a human voice, not even a sound made by an animal. But that wasn't what attracted everybody's attention.

Out of the mist had appeared a wooden frame station, painted neatly blue and white, with a long concrete platform and the words " _LEEBLAINE, ELEVATION 1545 FEET_ ". On the near side of the station was a round conical tower with high turrets shaped, appropriately enough, like a witch's hat. Beyond the round tower, a bay window protruded towards the tracks, where the station master had worked in a bygone era. Past the bay-window was another door to the station, a large cargo door to the freight room, and some french doors leading to an office marked "CUSTOMS" with a flagpole and flag flying atop.

Beyond that, was a water-tower also marked " _LEEBLAINE_ ".

"That tower's obviously for a steam train" said Ethan, with a sinking feeling. "That's why it's open on top and next to the station."

"None of this should be here" Rory objected. "Ms. Blaine says there's nothing left of the town."

"And that ad should also be long gone" said Sarah bitterly.

Above the platform, on the side of the station, was the sign " _GUESTS OF THE LEEBLAINE HOTEL: PLEASE WAIT IN NORTH WAITING ROOM FOR CAR TO HOTEL_."

"This is _really, really, really_ wrong" said Ethan, sinking in his seat. "Look at the flag above the customs office."

"Yeah" said Rory, thinking carefully. "If that's a customs office, the Canadian flag should be there. Why do they have the Ontario flag?"

"So?" said Erica, impatiently. "Why are you wasting your time with flag-etiquette?"

"That's not the Ontario flag" said Ethan, as he stuck his head out the window to get a better look. "The Ontario flag has the Ontario Coat of Arms in the middle. That's the Canadian Coat of Arms. Super-sight. That's the _old schoo_ l Canadian Flag, it was replaced with the Maple Leaf Flag almost fifty years ago."

"Oh yeah" said Rory. "When the Canadian guy was playing the chess master from SPECTRE at the start of _From Russia with Love_ , they had that behind him instead of the Maple Leaf. So . . . we . . . went back in time? AWESOME!"

"I am not going to live my life over fifty years ago" announced Erica indignantly. "We better get . . . _I'm not going to say it_!"

"BACK . . . TO . . . THE . . . FUTURE" announced Rory, gleefully. "But man, we've gotta find Benny first, and right away too. I bet they're keeping him at the hotel."

"The Windego is?" asked Sarah skeptically. "He . . . _it_ . . . doesn't really seem the indoors-type."

"Maybe Benny's prisoner at the hotel, but I don't think we're back in time" said Ethan. "This is more like . . . the ghost of Leeblaine fifty years ago. There's nobody here, and it's absolutely quiet.

"The ghost of a ghost town" said Sarah, laconically. "That explains the fog, the GPS, and why Stephanie would hide here.

"She's created her own pocket dimension" Ethan observed.

"What!" said Erica.

"The same thing that Benny's Grandma did to Ethan, Sarah and Benny to teach them a lesson about working together" Rory said. "Remember! But . . . this must be an _evil_ pocket dimension."

"And there's no telling what's around here" said Sarah.

"It seems that this dimension works differently than Mrs. Weir's" Ethan mused. "Anyone can wander in . . . and anybody who wanders here besides us Stephanie wants to have killed. But what does she want to do with us?"

"Benny said a fate worse than death" said Rory, who received three glares for his trouble. "Come on dudes . . . and dudettes. Don't shoot the messenger!"

" _Dudettes_?" said Sarah. "I don't know if I should be insulted or laugh."

"Insulted" Erica replied tersely.

"I think we should skip the station" interrupted Ethan, "And . . . just go direct to the hotel"

"I don't see how looking around a deserted train station would help us" said Sarah. "Do you smell sulphur or rot around here?"

"No, why?" said Ethan, before sighing and giving a half-hearted smile. "Oh, I get it. From seer to bloodhound, in about two weeks time."

Sarah laughed at Ethan's joke.

"Ah, come on, Ethan" said Rory. " _We_ never whined about our superpowers. We just _boomeranged_ evil powers against evil forces."

"You have a point" Ethan admitted. "I might even _enjoy_ sniffing Stephanie out."

"We might enjoy driving onto a real road" added Sarah. "There it is, on the other side of the customs office.

The road had a chip-seal pavement; driving upon it led to a sharp grind on the tires that echoes through the silent woods. As for Leeblaine itself, it became quickly obvious that Ethan and Sarah's conclusions were right. It was a pocket dimension. And Rory was right about it seeming to be downright _evil_.

Looking into the mist, all four of them had the feeling they were being watched.

Ethan sniffed compulsively for a while; but couldn't smell a thing outside the car aside from the fog. Not rot, not grass, not wood. They might well have been in the ghost of a ghost town.

The buildings by the station were few, and reflected a small town that had only been kept alive by the large resort on the outskirts. In this era of the dying town's history, there was little left of mining or logging aside from a sawmill just beyond the station. After the sawmill, the road abruptly dipped down and passed under the railroad embankment through a narrow, stone tunnel.

" _CLEARANCE_ _TWENTY FEET_ " advised the sign. " _YIELD TO ONCOMING TRAFFIC_ ".

The tunnel emerged into a mist-shrouded copse of trees. The trees in turn gave way to a hazy view of the one main street. The teens' view was now dominated by tall houses of either siding or red brick. There had been smaller homes and bunkhouses for miners and loggers in the past; but they were gone now, at least Ethan so judged by the number of vacant and tree covered lots.

A fine brick general store was the major business. There was an old-style newspaper box in front advertizing the _Winnipeg Free Press_.

"Can you stop?" asked Ethan. "I want to get a newspaper!"

"I get the idea" said Sarah. "I can go with you."

"No, I can get there okay" said Ethan.

" _I don't get it!_ " said Rory, who then decided to focus and think why. "Why . . . whoa, I understand . . . _the date._ "

Ethan exited the car, and walked slowly across the street out, carefully gripping onto the water-gun in his holster. The newspaper box advertized a nickle for the paper, which Ethan provided.

Ethan practically ran back to the car.

" _August 16, 1956_ " Ethan read. "I think I get it. That photograph in the book, the painting in the hotel suite."

"Stephanie's recreated the hotel and town as it was, back in 1956" said Sarah.

"And not exactly in the way of _shadows of things that have been_ " said Ethan warily. "Maybe I'm not the expert on magical spells, but I'm betting this had to take _a lot_ of power. Even Mrs. Weir limited us to spending some time in Whitechapel High pocket dimensions.

"If it wasn't for Sarah, _I'd so be gone now_ " said Erica.

"You're not serious" said Sarah, surprised.

"You promised to help" protested Ethan, suppressing the start of yet another growl.

"Help you find a witch" retorted Erica. "Not go into another dimension, as you put it."'

"You can go back anytime you want" said Ethan sarcastically. "Maybe it's not too late to catch the next train."

"Awesome if a train actually stopped there" asked Rory. _"Where would it go? You know, a ghost train at a ghost station in a ghost town along ghost tracks?"_

"No where we'd want to go" Sarah said.

"I bet" said Ethan, before turning to Rory in exasperation.

Ethan was friendly-enough, but impatient. Ethan had an idea of how Rory thought, in an odd way much like the Non-werewolf Ethan would if he had _no_ caution or common sense.

"Rory, pal, _forget_ how cool it might be in a movie. Think about how dangerous a move like that is in real life. This place is deadly!"

Rory nodded; he was more careful these days . . . _he would never board a ghost train from a ghost station in a ghost town in a witch's pocket dimension!_ Rory had only been talking about how _crazy-cool_ it would be!

"Yeah . . . I guess . . . any news in the paper?" said Rory, abruptly changing the topic, "Ethan-style."

"Since when were you interested in the news?" Ethan retorted sharply.

"Since it's a 1956 paper" said Rory. "You don't get a new sixty-five-year-old paper everyday."

"Nothing interesting, the headline is some meeting between the British and French about the Suez Canal" said Ethan. "And . . . the actor who played _Dracula_ , Bela Lugosi. He died today . . . or he died in 1956 . . . aged 73."

Ethan sat back, remembering his dream from the night before. _Coincidence? Or did it mean, that deep down, his "gift" was still there, buried under the curse put upon him?_

* * *

Past the general store was a post office and then a fire-hall. At one point there was an old school, with bell and belfry and another flagpole flying the old flag.

Finally, at the edge of town they reached a point where the road rose up to the hotel by the lake. Now they could see the Leeblaine Hotel itself, a massive granite building atop a hill peaking above the trees. The main building's top floor and castellated roof were decorated with the bronze ornaments, copper finishing and sharp delineations that were features of the Art Deco style. And above the main roof rose three square towers whose vertical lines were capped with decorative copper battlements stained black by the fresh northern air.

"I can see why Ms. Blaine misses the place" said Ethan.

"I think it's looks way cooler than the hotel in Thunder Bay" added Rory petulantly. "Even if it's a ghost hotel."

"Never mind that it stands out or looks cooler" said Sarah contemptuously. "That hotel isn't supposed to be there. In fact . . . over there, that's the only building that isn't new."

"And I know why!" said Ethan. "It must have been the town church."

The church was a colourless wood frame building with a steeple being the only indicator that it had been a place of worship. Old, yet still standing. Alone at the end of town, its grass and the cemetery was weedy.

It had what Ethan recognized as a blue historical plaque, put up in many places to mark the history of a person or building.

"It's the only thing from our time" said Ethan, to the others. "Do you have your water guns?"

"We're not getting out here" complained Erica.

* * *

But everyone did. The mist enveloped them as they crossed into the churchyard, and left them surrounded in a small island surrounding the church . . . . suggesting that Leeblaine was, actually, long abandoned.

And, on the lonely lot, they each read the sign saying that the Town of Leeblaine had been finally abandoned when the railroad line and hotel closed down.

"Why is this the one place that's real?" asked Erica. "It doesn't make sense."

Sarah gave her a look of surprise. Ethan frowned. Rory had his forehead furrowed in concentration, so he was the one who told Erica.

"Nuh-uh" said Rory, as seriously as he could. "If you'd been with us when we fought the vamps in Toronto, it'd make perfect sense. Vamps have no right near anything sacred."

"Stephanie's a witch, not a vampire" said Erica.

"She _or her master_ have no right to duplicate anything sacred" said Ethan. "Whatever spell they're doing. _And even thinking of trying to do it magically_ . . . nobody has the right to do that."

"As _immortals_ we had no problem going to Jesse's old churchyard" Erica reminded Ethan. "Hallowed ground isn't a thing. At least in North America."

"Jesse was digging up the _cubile animus_ " Ethan retorted. "Not going inside and tampering with a house of worship. We're not talking about the ground around here, Erica."

"You forgot that Jesse was actually a reverend of his own church."

"That doesn't count!" said Ethan heatedly.

"You're missing the point, Ethan" said Sarah.

"How?"

"It's not just tampering" said Sarah. "It's the idea of the forces of evil rebuilding a real church through black magic. _It's wrong in every way. It's evil in every way."_

"Stephanie can't touch the church" said Rory.

* * *

The four left the old church to the fog about it and returned to the unpleasant and unholy "pocket dimension" beyond.

But no sooner had they reached the car, and began the drive up to the hotel, than Ethan began to smell the faint but pungent scent of rot and decay.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Leeblaine, Ontario was a real railroad, lumber and mining community. And it was actually on a rail-line at Gunflint Lake. Still, the real Leeblaine had been abandoned long before the nineteen-fifties. The version of Leeblaine here, along with the resort hotel, is entirely a work of fiction.


	36. Leaving Nothing to Chance

**Leaving Nothing to Chance**

"The smell of rot's back" said Ethan uneasily. "I think it's the Wendigo."

"Maybe we should go back to the church?" said Rory. "We can use our water guns until it leaves."

"The old church had been deconsecrated and empty" Ethan said. "It's just a building now.

"It is back" said Erica, turning her head to look out the back window. "And it's floating."

* * *

Sure enough, somewhere between the church and the edge of town, was the top half of the Wendigo floating in mid-air. It was in all its skeletal might, gazing malevolently at the teens.

"Why are we just sitting here, waiting for a demon to attack us?" asked Sarah, checking the rear view mirror. "I'm going to speed up."

But Wendigo itself sped up, flying through the mist with a unearthly cry. The demon then passed the car and disappeared.

Everybody was relieved, but only for an instant.

You would think Leeblaine's gas station and garage would have been near the train station, or downtown at the general store! But it was the very last building in town, just past the crossroad where a lone gravel road headed down to the lake met the chip-and-tar main road.

The pumps were old style, gasoline was advertized at 30 cents a gallon, and the blue, white and red round _Esso_ sign swayed lazily despite the total lack of wind.

Beyond this station, the chip-and-tar road turned sharply, dipped into a short gully and climbed the hill to the resort.

" _You have to stop the car!_ " said Ethan abruptly, as he started coughing.

Sarah looked at Ethan, whose eyes were filled with terror. She took a look at the gas station, and it was obvious what the creature was about to do.

"We're too close to stop" Sarah said.

"Back up!" ordered Erica, as she shrank in the seat.

" _No way!_ " said Rory in disbelief, as he too belatedly made the collection.

Sarah made a sharp turn down the gravel road into the fog.

And the Wendigo, that hater of civilization, that demon of the northern woods, used a decidedly non-supernatural trick. It had caused a gas leak, and its long claws hadn't prevented it from combining the gas leak with a match from the garage's office.

The town should not have been there, it did not have any people living there, it was a fogbound copy of its rightful form . . . .

But hydrocarbons were still hydrocarbons. The gas station was able to blow up. A _nd that's how a large fireball and cloud of smoke went into the air._

But thanks to quick thinking, the blast didn't touch the teens as they travelled down the gravel road back into the fog enshrouded woods.

But a few stones hit the rear windshield of the car, cracking the glass in a couple places.

Sarah slowed down and allowed herself a deep breath. She looked at Ethan, who seemed pale from the near-escape.

Rory looked behind him as the fireball died down and the gas station continued to burn.

" _Big enough explosion for you?_ " asked Erica with deadly sarcasm, as she brought herself up.

"Yeah" said Rory, shaken despite himself. "Lucky the windows didn't blow-out completely. Malcolm would have killed us."

"Unbelievable" sighed Erica.

"Yeah, I know" said Rory.

Ethan and Sarah exchanged looks.

"I expected the Windego to start roaring again" said Ethan, as his grin faded. "Another one of his . . . ."

"Lame-o attempts" interrupted Rory.

". . . to stop us failed" said Ethan.

"It looks like this road also leads to the hotel" said Sarah. "What's that?"

To the side of the road was a tall wooden structure, grey with age. To Sarah's eyes, it looked something like a wooden silo that was completely vertical on side, but sloped down to the ground like the sloped roof of a house on the other.

"It's a mine headframe" said Ethan. "It lowers and raises things from a mine."

"Yeah" Rory acknowledged. "I've played enough mine train video games to know one when I see one. _Molten Magma Miners_ is the awesome-est."

" _Big Pine Death Mine IV_ has better graphics" Ethan said. "But this must have been long abandoned by '56 . . . You don't think that the Windego was trying to lead us down there?"

In their minds' eyes, both Ethan and Rory could see the four of them chased by upper-half of the Windego on a madly out-of-control mine cart flying through a tunnel. The type you found in I _ndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ , and another number of other movies or video games.

Rory's imagination went further; after a few loops and roller-coaster like turns, the mine cart came to the end of the track and fell down into a bottomless pit.

"Cool but too gnarly" Rory observed. "No way we should go in there."

" _Duh!_ " said Erica.

"And I don't think it would lead us to Benny" Ethan mused.

"I'll do better than that" said Sarah dryly. "No girl I know would want to hide at the bottom of an old mine shaft deep underground. Especially a cheerleader want-to-be like Stephanie. It's not sexist, it's a fact."

"It's a sexist fact" Erica added. "Only a really geeky guy would be that stupid."

* * *

Ethan wondered about that (so long as it were safe, he'd think it would be awesome to explore the inside of a mine!), as Sarah quickly drove away from the "abandoned ghost mine" and continued along a stony beach bordering Gunflint Lake. The four teens had a good view of the streamlined walls of the distant, art-deco hotel, and the pleasant sandy beach in its environs. The lakeshore retreated, and they passed again into the woods and another mine headframe.

On the left, the forest gave way to a black iron fence, and a ragged lawn mostly hidden by the thick fog.

The road forked, and Sarah stopped at the corner. The left road led through high, open gates flanked by stone pillars, gloomily beset by the fog.

 _Here again was a terrible stench that assaulted Ethan's nose. And this time, his nostrils didn't want to stop sniffing. That is, until he covered his nose with his hand and thought of Sarah._

"I think . . . freshly dug earth" said Ethan embarrassedly. "And, uh, soup bones."

'And road signs" said Erica, from the back seat pointing to an old white sign ahead of them.

" _Leeblaine Hotel_ " read the sign with helpful black arrow pointing to the narrower road curving to the right. And below the helpful black arrow was a decidedly less helpful black arrow pointing to the high gates and reading _"Miners Union Cemetery._ "

"That's an easy choice" said Ethan tried to joke. "Uh . . . no! Not again!"

Reappearing, was the upper half of the Windego. Once again blocking the road to the hotel.

"This time we make our stand" said Sarah, grabbing her water gun.

Ethan too grabbed her gun. So did Rory and Erica.

It takes a little experience to jump out of a Challenger coup with a water gun aimed and ready to fire. Sarah wasn't bad, given her green belt. Ethan also managed well. Erica and Rory had to put their seats forward, and climbed from the back.

The Windego, effusing its putrid smell, stood looking down with its demonic red eyes. With its emaciated face, and its head and antlers so much like a moose's. The demon was silent; it appeared unable to talk without a mouthpiece at its side.

The four teens aimed the holy water at this spectre. And fired . . . if that was the right word for it.

But the four had lost the element of surprise. The Windego retreated, floating up and out of reach of the blessed water. The demon disappeared once again.

"That was easy" said Rory, with an obvious sigh of relief, as he replaced his gun in his scabbard.

"He's not gone for good" said Ethan, warily.

"What are we going to do?" Sarah asked. "We have to get to the hotel. But we can't just drive along like sitting ducks. We can't go back to the _Esso_ station; the road ahead twists so much we can't speed that way."

"Not even Erica" Rory said.

"We could walk" said Erica, with a contemptuous look at Rory.

"That'll be worse" said Sarah. "Our supplies are in the car."

"I think I know!" Ethan exclaimed. "Go back in the car. Keep the windows open and ready to shoot. Like an APC.

"A what?" asked Sarah.

"An armoured personnel carrier"

"Just say tank" smiled Sarah.

"He probably got the idea from a video game" Erica said sarcastically.

"The Windego can still come in through the roof" said Sarah. "We might not be able to hit him in time."

"Too bad there's no roof rack" said Rory. "Then I could ride on top, like a tank's turret. My dad's new _Trailblazer_ has one. Um . . . a roof rack, not a turret."

"Focus, dude" Ethan said. "We'll just have to . . . what's that?"

Ethan's ears began to involuntarily twitch. Since Ethan had combed his hair over his ears to hide the points on top, this was both embarrassing and itchy. Then Ethan's nose began twitching again, and he had to cover it with his hand.

"What do you hear?" asked Sarah, as if this was something that Ethan typically dealt with.

"More soup bones" Ethan admitted. "And a rattle, like dozens of rattlesnakes. And . . . dirt."

"That doesn't make any sense" said Erica warily, as she didn't much like that idea of an invasion of rattlesnakes.

But in a moment, everyone else heard that same noise. And, as with the Windego, everyone reacted in horror. Ethan and Rory's jaws practically fell to the floor in their fright as they yelled in terror (Rory, to his credit, this time managed not to scream like a girl).

 ** _Skeletons_**. What looked like an army of them. Nothing but bleached-yellow bones marched out of the cemetery as the remains of the long dead came to take them on. In all likelihood, those of the miners whose bodies had long been placed to rest in that quiet graveyard.

This was cause for the smell of bones, that so aggravated Ethan's werewolf senses. This was the cause of the strange rattle . . . skeletons marching of their own accord without muscle, tendon or skin to assist their movement.

It was a wonder how they stood and walked, like gruesome marionettes pulled by invisible strings, so jerky was their stride.

It was an affront to the remains of those long buried.

Ethan picked up his water gun but was too distracted by the gruesome site to even use it.

"S-stephanie, or the Windego, or b-both, again used the spell to make Old school z-z-zombies" said Ethan, stuttering in fear . . . merely holding the gun repressed his cursed instincts. "The souls have long left them . . . like those animals Benny re-animated once. Only these are very old skeletons hijacked and f-forced to work . . . ."

Sarah was the first to react. She hit the pedal to the floor, but all four ended up whiplashed as the car came into contact with the Windego with a sickening crunch.

 _And a plume of black smoke rising from the hood._

This was the end of Malcolm's Dodge Challenger. And it seemed to be the end of Team Sabre (minus Benny plus Erica)!

* * *

Ethan frantically pushed the automatic window button, silently praying that the car battery was still working. With a whine the battery worked, and the window went down.

Sarah, Erica and Rory followed Ethan's lead.

Wasting no further time, Ethan pulled his water gun to shoot at the Windego and was rewarded with another roar as it pulled further away. Ethan had disintegrated one of the antlers of that unholy spectre.

Rory had recovered himself too, and lowering the window aimed his water gun full of holy water as if he were peering through the gun slits of a tank. Rory hit the nearest skeleton and it collapsed into a pile of bones.

Ethan aimed his gun and shot a few more.

It was easy for the two teen boys to fire. The Challenger's passenger side faced the army of skeletons. But this also meant that neither Sarah nor Erica could use their water guns; they would only splash Ethan and Rory with the holy water.

Sarah, bravely left the car and aimed from behind the smoke-screen left by the incapacitated motor. It wasn't difficult. There were about a hundred skeletons in total.

Seeing Sarah move, Erica followed her out and started shooting the skeletons from her side.

"This isn't what I expected when I said I'd come" Erica sulked.

But there was yet a problem left by the chaotic nature of their defence. Most of the holy water was in the trunk of the car. There were over a hundred skeletons. While they crumpled easily, there just wasn't that much water in the water pistols to take them all out!

"We should have had super-soakers!" Rory complained, as he ran out of water first.

"Pull the back seat down" said Ethan, "it's the easiest way to get to the trunk."

Rory, with some shuffling, managed. But when the car had ran into the Windego, the luggage had fallen into a confused heap. The barrel of holy water was on the opposite side of the trunk; that is to say the extreme back of the car. Rory crawled into the trunk, trying to reach the elusive barrel.

"Let me get the keys and pop the trunk" said Ethan.

Ethan aimed another shot at an approaching skeleton with the last of the holy water in his pistol. Ethan then pulled out his light sabre as his last defence.

But with the gun now dry, werewolf instincts started to intrude on Ethan's mind. Dizzily he was aware of a bonanza of bones to chew on. Yet the bones he was looking at were his enemies, and wanted to destroy him! Ethan's eyes glazed over in a yellow fog.

Ethan growled furiously.

"Ethan, don't!" called Sarah.

Ethan hesitated. Ethan came to himself. He pushed the trunk open button. Holding up his light sabre, he went to rush the trunk from the outside. Meanwhile, Sarah and Erica, were now out of holy water themselves. The girls moved along the driver's side of the car trying to reach the trunk.

Sarah and Erica were suddenly brought short; they almost ran into the foul, rotten hand of the Windego. The top half of the demon face them and leered. He, or it, rested its long cold clammy fingers and long claws onto Erica's shoulder.

Erica immediately went into a trance, and began speaking in a stern monotone:

"I will get my full powers and form back. The Windego never dies. He is forever bound to this wilderness. You will pay for this insult!"

But Ethan had reached the barrel of blessed water, and remove the cask from the trunk. Even with all that was going on, Ethan was terrified to see the Windego face-to-face with Sarah. With all his might, he threw the barrel at the demon's antlers.

The barrel broke, and holy water doused the Windego.

" _ **Aaieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee**_ " is the nearest way to transcribe that demon's unholy screech as it erupted into flame like a roman candle, extinguished in a splash, and, so far as Ethan knew, left the boreal forest, granite hills and muskeg swamp, reappearing in the infernal regions where it had its origins.

But there was little time to think about that, or if the Windego would ever return to earth. That instant, Sarah roughly pushed Erica into the snow. The destruction of the Windego had singed Erica's sleeve, and nearly ignited her clothes. For an instant Erica looked confused, then made a disgusted face.

"I don't believe it!" she complained. "That thing was so . . . clammy."

Ethan and Sarah again gazed at each for a moment, seeing if each other were okay. Then the terror of their situation ended the moment.

They were at the mercy of the skeletons. Without any effective weapons.

Rory was pulled bodily from the car by his feet, kicking the skeleton grasping him with all his might.

"Dude, let go!" he insisted.

That skeleton would have none of it. Another skeleton removed its arm, and struck Rory on the back until the teen was forced to cover the back of his head in protection. Two other skeletons grasped him and carried the astonished teen between them.

Now the skeletons came around the front of the car. Sarah was loathe to leave Erica, so she fought them off with the best of her karate skills.

A karate kick crumbled the nearest into a pile of bones. But the bones reassembled in front of Sarah's astonished eyes! Another four skeletons rounded the car behind it.

"Get your hands off me!" Sarah warned, as she tried to get Erica to her feet so they could flee.

It took four skeletons to grasp Sarah, holding onto each limb. They carried her away.

"Sarah!" Erica called, then bitterly declared "This so wouldn't have happened if I was still an immortal. Glamourous immortals have no time for filthy piles of bones."

Erica found herself face to face with a large skeleton with a smiling skull. This entity menacingly removed its skull and indicated it would bean Erica given the chance. Erica found her arms grabbed from behind, and frogmarched after Sarah and Rory.

* * *

And now Ethan was the only one left. In spite of Ethan being in his natural body, all reason left him as he fought the skeletons in a haze of lycanthropic instinct. In this situation, Ethan had little chance to control himself. Again, much had changed since he had fought the invisible Malcolm, what seemed to him like years ago instead of a week.

Ethan growled, tried to bite, and threw himself bodily at the skeletons. He was finally quelled by what seemed like a barrage of thrown skulls. Normally Ethan wouldn't have been able to take it, but being a werewolf made it so he was merely sore instead of comatose.

Ethan's eyes finally focussed and lost their hungry yellow glow. His mind went back to something like normal. Ethan was almost relieved to be carried firmly away by four skeletons. Somehow, Ethan discovered that his retractable light sabre had been returned to its scabbard.

"I can't believe I'm being carried away by skeletons" said Ethan to himself, as he realized the skeletons couldn't hear him. "But where? To the hotel. It's the hotel alright. But they don't want us dead . . . yet. Why?"

Ethan then realized why, with a growl. _The Windego had told them why_. The skeletons were delivering Ethan, Sarah, Rory and Erica to Stephanie.

 _Why?_ To suffer "a fate worse than death."


	37. The Bellboy's Middle Name

**THE BELLBOY'S MIDDLE NAME**

The skeletons carrying the teens were soon joined by a dozen more. Six skeletons flanked the road to the right, five flanked the road to the left.

The last skeleton joined the one frogmarching Erica, and, like a rag-doll, they lifted up the unhappy girl. And, with a steel grip, they carried her away. When she tried to protest, a skeleton ran up and put his cold, clammy finger-boned over her mouth.

It wasn't easy to sightsee when carried along by walking skeletons. Or even talk. The rattle was so loud it seemed to reecho in Ethan's skull.

But this was what total defeat looked like.

Sarah was angry. Rory, just stunned by the reverse. As for Ethan, an incredible feeling of guilt set in.

 _"Would it had been so bad to turn into a man-eating werewolf every full moon for the rest of my life?"_ thought Ethan desperately. _"Even two to the power of ten times! I could have been locked and chained up each full moon? I mean, even if I act like a dog half the time now . . . but I could live with that. Outside the full moon, I don't look too much like a wolf. I could have learned to live like this!"_

 _"It's better than ruining everybody's life for me!"_

"Don't blame yourself" answered a voice. "Did you really want to live your life as a werewolf? Did you want your best friend to be a zombie? Don't you give yourself any credit for ending the curse on the very souls of Sarah and Rory? The girl who you've hopeless in love with. One of your pals since earliest childhood. Ethan, you were born with the gift of second sight, the ability to see ghosts and spirits? Won't you believe that the powers of evil and darkness will lose to the good? At this, the worst crisis of your life? Courage and faith!"

The voice came from no source Ethan could see; given his limited ability to look about that was no surprise. But more unusually, the voice seemed inaudible to friends, Erica, and skeletons alike.

Even more oddly, for all the world, it sounded to Ethan like his Dad's at his most patient; a father-son talk tone of voice. And that's how Ethan came to the conclusion stress had caused him to imagine it.

Facing doom, Ethan desperately wished he was at home with his parents. And Ethan wished desperately he had refused to haul his friends on this disastrous journey.

* * *

The forest gave way to a wide lawn and the paved road going the final distance to the hotel. There were flower gardens too on this side of the hotel. In fact, the old building's streamlined walls . . . which had, after all, been built to look welcoming . . . practically shined in the fog. The copper-roofed towers would have been exiting after a long journey for many of traveller of yesteryear.

No doubt many of the guests would have liked to sit at benches and small tables this side of the hotel.

But the place was terribly eerie. No guests, no sunlight. Not even bees or any insects among the flowers. Just the fog smothering the landscape.

There were bright red awnings in front of the hotel, under which a few large black cars stood waiting patiently to go to the station to retrieve guests from the station. Chrysler Imperials. But their ghosts, like the hotel and everything else in the town.

There were no animals, no insects, but there were _more_ zombies at the hotel. The old-school kind, like Benny was now.

Ethan could smell them before he could see them; he didn't know where Stephanie had found them. Ethan didn't even know whether they were living people under spells or dead bodies forced to do Stephanie's bidding.

But these zombies weren't moving skeletons. Although Ethan, and only Ethan, could smell them, they looked not the least bit decayed. Except the eyes. _It was always the eyes with Stephanie's zombies._

A young doorman, with a pallid face and vacant black eyeballs, opened the heavy double doors for the regiment of skeletons. Just inside there was a maid sweeping, wearing a very tight sweater and a long skirt, with dead black eyes.

Ethan could see Rory had been about to say something to her, until put-off by her dead eyes.

"The windows to the soul" said Sarah musingly, quietly, almost imperceptibly.

* * *

The hotel lobby was designed in the art deco style; all brass, glass polish and chrome. The lobby was dominated by a shiny, rounded streamline modern front desk. There were chairs about, inlaid with woods. Coffee tables were glass topped. The thick walls and marble floors were painted a dull blue. Curving chrome decorations and shiny elevator doors. Rounded, porthole windows were by the massive doors. Above it all, was a large multi-armed chandelier of what looked like highly polished steel.

The desk clerk was another zombie. An old man with a grey handlebar mustache. He was so old, thin and passive looking, Ethan felt sure that the old man must had died naturally years before and his soul must have long since peaceably moved on! But how did he look so much like a living man, if all Stephanie could do was enslave the corpses of the dead and curse the lives of the quick?

Erica had by this time, become very angry . . . although her fury had to battle with a cringing disgust at being "manhandled" by a skeleton. It was a bit ironic, given how much she had loved being un-dead herself in the past! This _truth_ crept into Erica's mind unbidden. It made her all the more furious!

Sarah, who had, after all, carried the remains of "Jockenstein" to Anastasia, didn't like being carried by skeletons but didn't find it as loathsome as Erica. She had looked assiduously for a chance at escape. Unlike Ethan, Sarah had _a lot_ of experience with dealing with self-pity in the past . . . you didn't let it get in the way with what you had to do!

But Sarah and Erica soon had Rory's shocked expressions on their faces.

It all was the bellboy's fault.

The bellboy wore a bright red hat strapped to his chin, a bright red double-breasted uniform with polished brass buttons, a bright brass nameplate on his chest, _and_ brightly polished black boots with brass coloured laces.

One look, and Ethan realized that this bellboy was not a revived corpse.

The bellboy's bright brass name tag read "Jack". And the fact that the bellboy's name-tag read "Jack" was Stephanie adding insult to injury.

Benny didn't much like his middle name and liked to keep it secret. But there was no detail too small for Stephanie to exploit.

And while Benny, like Ethan and Rory, liked costumes _somewhat_ too much . . . both Ethan and Rory half-wondered how Benny could have been made to wear the bright red brass-buttoned bellboy's uniform. Even as a zombie.

But this was Benny Weir standing there all the same. Benny Weir standing drained of all personality and emotion, and standing black eyeballed at the command of the old man of the front desk.

The truth was you can make an old-school zombie do _anything_. Even if he used to be a spellmaster of incredible potential.

"Benny?" said Ethan hesitantly, and found four skeletal fingers closing on his mouth.

Ethan instinctively bit the bones, but was forced to let go as another skeleton wrenched open his supernaturally powerful jaws with its even more powerful skeletal fingers.

Ethan coughed as he realized in disgust what he had just done.

"It's no good, Ethan" said Sarah, who gave a menacing look to one of the skeletons carrying her. "Just you try that on me!"

The skeleton didn't.

"Even dating Della, Benny would be eyeing the maid just across the room" observed Erica. "They're both zombies, so they'd be involved by now if Benny had any brain or wasn't such a geek."

"Zombies don't date" said Rory.

Rory _did_ get a skeleton's hand over his mouth. But he didn't bite.

Ethan looked again at the motionless Benny, and cringed.

 _Insult atop injury._

* * *

One of the skeletons walked up to a large polished call bell. He loudly clanged it; so it echoed through the lobby and through the empty hotel.

This was a signal for the mild old man to come to life . . . so to speak.

" _The_ party of four?" he said in a kindly grand-fatherly voice.

The skeleton nodded.

The old man rang the bell twice, so that it echoed and reechoed through the hotel.

This was a sign for Benny to come to life, as he neatly stepped sideways to the old man and gave a smart salute.

"Jack" said the old man. "Show our guests to the Royal Suite, where Stephanie's waiting for them."

"Of course, sir" Benny said in a extremely formal tone, that neither Ethan nor Rory had ever heard him use.

"But don't forget, Jack!" warned the old man.

"I won't sir" said Benny.

Benny picked up the shining call bell, and walked determinedly to Ethan with it.

"Dude . . . don't!" said Ethan, who knew what was coming.

Ethan tried to struggle, but the skeleton's grip was too tight. The skeleton stretched out Ethan's palm.

"By Stephanie's special order" Benny said calmly. "She wants to remind you of what you are before she sees you. What you did to her when you turned her into an old geezer."

"She was an old geezer" Ethan cried out.

"Stephanie wants you to, as our friend the siren used to say, _feel her pain!_ "

"Buddy!" said Rory, before again having skeleton fingers over her mouth.

"Benny!" tried Sarah.

"Oh, it's Jack" said Benny. "Jack Weir. I go by my middle name."

"Ethan's . . . your best friend" said Erica, abruptly.

And in spite of herself, a tear came to Erica's eye. She could just imagine being forced to do the same thing to Sarah.

"Benny, don't!"

But with no further pause, Benny with a dead-eyed stare, plunked the call bell into Ethan's outstretched palm.

The bell was 99.9% Sterling Silver. And if Erica's silver quarter had been bad, this was unbelievable.

* * *

Benny quietly removed the bell back to the desk, while Ethan was still howling from the pain of the palm of his hand being scorched black and brown.

When his howls of pain had finally finished re-echoed through the hotel, Ethan stared quietly as the burnt skin healed red and faded into a puffed-pink.

And Ethan now knew he was within earshot of the real Stephanie. Ethan's ears twitched madly, as heard her several floors up. Laughing uproariously, with Jesse near her side.

"Stephanie says you have a very mournful howl" said Benny. "She feels she did a very good job with you."

"We may still do a very good job with her" Sarah replied sarcastically.

"I don't think so" said Benny. "Is your hand healed yet, whelp?"

"Yeah" said Ethan, looking at Benny bitterly a moment. Ethan took a deep breath. "But, Benny, it's the same as when Stern had you throw fireballs at us. Or the King Gremlin has us hypnotised. You just can't help yourself."

"I don't know what you're talking about" said Benny. "And the name is Jack Weir. J-A-C-K. And I'll take you up to Stephanie now. Our elevator operator is sick, so I'll take you up myself. But I have bad news. You'll have to leave most of your skeletons behind. The elevator only holds thirteen."

That left two skeletons per-teen, not counting Benny who led the way across the lobby and down a wide, high hall with Mahogany-panelled walls and expressionist paintings of the Canadian Shield.

Benny abruptly stopped before a set of four shiny elevators with chrome dials and mirrored doors.

He pushed a button, gave a very un-Benny like bow, and ushered the others into the nearest car.


	38. The Imposter

IMPOSTER AND USURPER

Whether Benny was smart enough to run an manually-operated elevator at a glance; or whether being a zombie meant that he just knew how through some superhuman means; no one knew or cared. All living eyeballs were on the numbered elevator dial as it eased up to the eighth floor.

The remaining skeletons didn't drop the teens, but continued to carry them in their bony grip. They, or Stephanie, were afraid that Team Sabre plus Sarah and minus the obediently zombiefied Benny would fight _and_ flee.

A long hall, a short hall, and a short flight of four steps brought the group to a pair of double doors flanked by dead-eyed zombie doorman. _Royal Suite_ said the sign above in antique brass, to match the polished nameplate on "Jack" Weir's red bellboy's jacket.

The skeletons now dropped the teens roughly, and formed a shoulder-bone to shoulder-bone barricade behind them. This prevented retreat.

Sarah immediately made a karate pose, and despite a feeling of revulsion, looked directly into the empty eye sockets of the skeleton nearest her.

"Don't even think about it!" ordered a high girlish voice from inside the suite.

"Stephanie says not to even think about it!" repeated Benny.

"Like frack I won't, Benny!" said Ethan, as he picked himself up. "You can tell Stephanie that if I'm stuck like this for life, I'm going to make the most of it!"

Ethan barrelled into the wall of skeletons, enough to knock one over and crumple it. But before Ethan could make another step, he found himself floating in midair.

" _Floatum Ethan nummow_ " ordered the girl's voice.

"I'd drop the _Karate Kid_ pose, Sarah" said Benny, in a smarmy voice. "We're at the bottom of one of the towers. Stephanie might drop him out a window, Sarah! Of course, Ethan won't die from that. But I don't think we'll like that, would we? Hmm?"

"Hmm what?" retorted Sarah, with brutal sarcasm.

"Seeing werewolves heal from normally fatal wounds isn't a very pleasant sight" continued Benny. "Sometimes the effort causes them to revert to _their true form_ for hours or even days at a time. And you know Ethan despises his _true form_."

What could Sarah do? She stopped.

" _Floatum Sarah and Erica nummow_ " said the voice from within the suite.

Sarah and Erica found themselves in midair as well.

"Congratulate yourself on saving Ethan from floating out the window" said Benny, with a salute. "And prowling on the grounds as a werewolf. For now."

"But Benny . . . ."

"Jack"

"You never told Ethan that would happen before" said Rory perplexedly as, making a quick jump, he pulled Ethan down to the floor by his shoe.

"Don't even think of trying to pull Ethan to the floor!" said Benny.

" _Floatum Ethan nummow_ " said the girl's voice, and Ethan went back into the air.

"You forgot the little blond traitor" said _the_ unmistakable male voice. "Rory".

"Okay. _Floatum Rory nummow_. Now, open the doors" ordered the girl. "And send away the skeletons to the grounds. I can't stand looking at them.

The doorman obeyed. And, so, Team Sabre plus Erica were floated in and dropped to a point in mid-room.

This was a large room with a cathedral ceiling and chandelier. It was either a type of sitting room or foyer or a combination of both. There was a curving staircase leading upstairs to what appeared to be the suite's bedrooms. Several paintings were hanging on the walls. A heavy glass table with a guestbook was near the double doors.

Erica had a glance at the book. The room's last guest, when the hotel had been opened, was a Governor of Minnesota some fifty years before. Stephanie had ostentatiously signed the ghost of the guest-book, making her signature three times the size of the governor's.

At the far side of the room were heavy, high-back wood-inlaid chairs grouped about a fireplace lit by a roaring fire. A very thin zombie maid was attending the fire, while a eyeballless young man stood vacantly about in another hotel uniform.

Stephanie, with her legs crossed, was sitting in one of the high back chairs. She was in a short red skirt and low cut blouse. Something like her cheerleader's outfit without the Whitechapel Devil's name.

Jesse was there as well, still transparent, still in his eighteenth century costume with his three cornered hat. This didn't stop him from lounging in the chair to Stephanie's right. Nor did it stop Jesse from boasting his most arrogant smirk.

"Very sloppy, Jack" said Jesse, with a yawn. "I expected you to take care of our guests. _Stephanie_ expected better from you."

"I tried, sir" said Benny _giving Jesse an elaborate salute_.

"I know Jack. You try" said Jesse, feigning sympathy. He glanced at Sarah with a look of incredible smugness..

Stephanie smiled, and pointed to the four floating teens. They dropped feet first to the floor.

"I can't move my feet!" announced Rory. "I'm stuck."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious" Erica said.

"She's done this to us before" said Ethan, though that didn't stop him from trying to move his feet.

"It's not as if I'll forget" said Sarah dryly.

"Or me!" Stephanie interjected furiously. "When you thought you'd ruin my life! _All_ I was doing was paying the student body at _Whitechapel High_ back for how they treated me the first time I went to high school."

"Actually, the only reason we caught onto to your plan was we were trying to save you" said Ethan irritably. "Erica wanted to kill you for what you did to her. We didn't know you were a soul-stealing witch."

"I think that was about their second adventure after they faced me that first time" said Jesse casually. "They were mucking around worse even than now. Heh . . . there goes Ethan's yellow eyes again."

"It really shouldn't have mattered to neither geeks nor the undead if I stole the souls of the student body" said Stephanie haughtily. "Well, none of you are still un-dead, but three of you will always be geeks. That reminds me . . . . Jack, step to Ethan's left."

Benny followed her orders, with military precision.

Stephanie snapped her fingers.

"Jack the Bellboy" stiffened as if he had received as bad a shock as he had back at the _Casa de Anjou_ when his troubles began.

"Huh?" Benny sputtered at once, looking around. His vacant black eyes first reacted to Stephanie and Jesse. "How'd you get here? Where am I? What do you fart-heads think you're doing? I can't move my feet. What . . . the _frack_ am I wearing!"

"Your uniform" said Jesse laconically. "The last thing you'll ever wear."

Benny angrily pulled off his bellboy's cap by the chinstrap, and gazed furiously at the his brass tag reading "Jack Weir".

"My middle name's a secret!" Benny said.

"Not anymore, Jack" Jesse replied.

" _No one **ever** calls me Jack!_" Benny exclaimed

"Shut up, Jack!" said Stephanie. "When the Windego brought you here, I decided to make you a slave. There isn't a very good variety in the cemeteries here if you're looking to raise zombies. Several careless miners, like our doormen and the skeletons you met. But most of the people buried here died of natural causes."

"Then why do they look as if they're as . . . fresh . . . as Benny?" asked Erica.

"Fresh!" Benny exclaimed.

" _Because Stephanie hates looking at skeletons_ " said Jesse with a yawn. "It's a girl-thing. But Stephanie told you that."

"All you do is mix a rejuvenation potion and then turn your rejuvenated body into a zombie" said Stephanie. "It keeps out the demons. Demons are . . . ."

"So, witches answer to demons" interrupted Benny. "You all have the same boss."

"And you now answer to me" Stephanie said coldly.

"No way in . . . where you're going" said Benny brazenly, who tried but failed to move his feet.

"If you don't want your soul ripped from your body, _Jack_ , you'll be as speechless as a proper zombie should" said Stephanie with a icy look at Benny. Stephanie turned to the rest of the teens. "I've decided to explain what I'm going to do with the five of you after the trouble you've given me. It's _far_ more satisfying."

"Harlow was the gloating type" observed Jesse.

"He was only a vampire" said Stephanie, to Jesse. "I will them my deal with Mr. Scratch. He's very impressed with me."

It was only for a second, but Jesse looked at the teens and made a motion with his finger to his skull showing that he thought Stephanie crazy. At least here.

"Mr. Scratch?" asked Sarah.

"The Satan . . . the devil incarnate" said Jesse, as a shadow over his face. "I bet the bellboy's grandmother . . . Mrs. Weir warned you _what_ Stephanie is working for?"

"That Stephanie's in league with the devil" said Benny, as casually as he could. "Yeah, we know that."

"Erica doesn't believe it" said Sarah.

"I believe what I see" said Erica quietly at first, but increasingly angry. " _I see we're being held hostage by a witch who has skeletons, zombies, stinking monsters, a mama's boy innkeeper's son, railroad workers and invisible auto part heirs working for her. And for what? To make Ethan a werewolf and Benny her zombie bellhop? Why? The whole thing is demented!"_

"When you put it like that . . . ." said Jesse, stretching his transparent arms. "Go on, Stephanie. _If you really want to tell them first."_

"Personally, I don't give a fig about vampires" said Stephanie, looking at Jesse. "But by breaking every rule in the book you doomed your own kind and left an opening for those do-gooders."

"You think I made Ethan a seer? And Jack as spellmaster?" said Jesse sardonically.

"But you made them even more powerful!" Stephanie retorted. "Those five teens . . . _between the five of you, you've destroyed most of what was evil in Whitechapel._ "

"Awesome!" cheered Rory. " _High fives!_ "

"I don't think I can reach my hand over" said Ethan, who didn't feel like cheering.

"But, uh, we knew that" Rory continued. "Jack . . . I mean Benny's Grandma said so. High five Sarah?"

Sarah gave Rory a high five, with the shadow of a smile.

"That kid cannot shut up!" snapped Jesse. "Why, Erica . . . why didn't you drain him when you were supposed to!"

Erica looked indignant a moment, but decided to give a cool shrug. It dampened Rory's spirits considerably.

"I think I should just take their voices away" said Stephanie, with a glare. "One look from me . . . ."

" _I know how this works_ " interrupted Jesse. "If you're going to cheerlead your victory, you want them to complain. Especially the nerds. Not stand around _glamoured_ like statues. Me, I didn't waste my time. If I wanted someone dead, I killed them. But Anastasia and Harlow were as bad as any James Bond villain with gloating."

"James Bond?" asked Stephanie.

"It's not only geeks like those three who watch Bond movies" said Jesse, with a smirk. "Only if you count how many girls I've had over the years . . . let's say I make Bond look like a monk."

"I don't know what I ever saw in you" groaned Sarah.

"A romantic, sensitive, poetic-type, who loved the stage" said Jesse, with a smirk. "What I wanted you to see."

"I know."

" _Back to me_ " interrupted Stephanie. "You probably don't know this was the second deal I made with Mr. Scratch."

"We know that too" said Ethan, who was angry to begin with and was enraged by Stephanie's latest remarks. "It's bad enough you could actually make a deal with the devil. But you're bragging about it?"

"Just because she wasn't popular in high school" said Benny, incredulously. "She's crazy. All witches are."

"No, just evil" said Sarah.

"My first deal was _brilliant_ " said Stephanie, in a haughty tone. "For my eternal youth and powers, all I had to do was steal the souls of a gymnasium full of teens. You ruined that. Mr. Scratch had trusted me so much the first time out I didn't have to give up my soul to him."

Everyone looked incredulously at Stephanie. Jesse, again, made the "she's crazy" gesture.

"The devil would have taken your soul anyway" said Rory, with some surprise. "You can't make a deal with the devil, steal a couple hundred souls and get away with it. That's _pure evil_. He'd take you in the end."

Stephanie glared daggers at Rory.

"Says a boy who stumbled into a vampire party the first day of high school and found himself a full-fledged bloodsucker by midnight. There was a time your soul was to be as cursed as mine. You and Sarah shouldn't have escaped. I still don't see how."

"A higher justice and a higher mercy" said Benny, "We've seen it, even if you won't believe it."

"Yeah" Rory agreed.

"You shouldn't be able to destroy your soul by saving someone's life" said Ethan emphatically, taking up the thread. "And . . . you can't just bite and brainwash a fourteen year old guy who believes in Santa Claus and only wanted to go to a party and hang with the cool kids."

"What does Santa Claus have to do with it?" asked Rory.

"Everything and nothing, traitor" interrupted Jesse, with some annoyance. "We've covered my mistakes. Now about _yours_ , Stephanie?"

"What mistakes?"

"Your second deal"

"That was no mistake" Stephanie retorted. "You wouldn't be here then."

"Second triumph then" said Jesse, sardonically.

"Now, the second time I dealt with Mr. Scratch, he insisted I show good faith. I had to go through the trouble of selling my soul" said Stephanie with emphasis. "I . . . ."

"So you didn't sell your soul two times over" said Benny. "That's what confused Grandma. I think I get it. When Grandma took away your evil powers and made you a wrinkled old hag, she really saved you from your first _idiot_ deal. Only you're such a fart head you didn't realize it."

"Until Stephanie of her own free will sold her soul . . . Stephanie could repent . . . atone for what she did" said Sarah. "I think I understand."

"That's why the only job she could get was as a lunch lady" said Ethan. "It just wasn't coincidence. By working in the cafeteria, it . . . gave her a chance to save her soul by becoming a new, better person."

"It was poetic justice" said Sarah thoughtfully, with a look at Ethan. "Almost as if it were out of story. She mistreated students and our old lunch lady. She'd work as lunch lady herself but could learn her lesson and become . . . deserving."

Stephanie gave a mocking laugh.

"Repent! You know how I've been treated!"

"No worse than me" said Ethan. "And I've never wanted to kill anybody."

"Although you soon will" said Stephanie, with a sinister look into Ethan's deep brown eyes . . . now clouded by spots of yellow. "For months, for over a year, I suffered again . . . because of you above all. I desperately wanted his infernal majesty to return my powers and give me my revenge. Finally, after you've destroyed the one town in Canada under the command of occult forces . . . ."

"More like destroyed the occult forces" Sarah interrupted.

"And stop calling the devil something like "infernal majesty" added Benny. "It makes me want to puke."

"Just stop talking about it . . . period" Erica complained.

Stephanie looked at Erica with a tight smile.

"You know, you're a little like me" Stephanie said sweetly. "You know and understand what people have done to you. And how you should take revenge. Mr. Scratch gave me the means to take my revenge. My youth, my powers, and what you call the counterfeit curses. The rest was my doing. I wanted my revenge on Ethan most of all. First Ethan, then Benny and Evelyn. Sarah, you were a decoy to confuse everyone. You, Sarah, you Erica, had potential as cheerleaders. And you were safely under my mind control spell until the geeks came along to spoil things. Sarah, you had _such_ potential."

"As you found out, Ethan, Benny and Rory have potential too" Sarah retorted.

"You know they're hopeless geeks" said Stephanie.

"Like you were when you were a teen?" said Erica.

"I _am_ a teen."

"When you were _really_ a teen you were a hopeless geek" said Sarah.

"No I wasn't!" Stephanie retorted. "Just blocked from being a cheerleader. Don't make excuses just because you have geeks for friends."

"There's bigger things than high school" Sarah replied in a annoyed tone. "And being cool isn't the most important thing in the world either. _And I've always_ made my own friends."

"You're just lucky, Sarah, that I wasn't allowed to make you a vampire again" said Stephanie. "Since you hate it so much. I don't blame you . . . it's so much of a nuisance. But I would have turned you if I could, just to have punished you for your part in ruining my plans. Mr. Scratch told me I might try a use a vampire spell someday, for real. Mr. Scratch told me I was very shrewd."

"Of course you are" said Ethan sarcastically.

"Mr. Scratch even told me how the vampire spell would fail" Stephanie retorted. "How is that for honest dealing you morons?"

"So he'd trick you into something else" Benny said, irritably. " _I don't believe this!_ "

Not being able to move his feet, Benny plunked his bellboy hat back on his head as an expression of disgust.

"Don't you have a brain, Stephanie?" asked Ethan.

"As if you did" said Stephanie. "If you did, you would have realized that all I set out to do was to set out to take away your powers. And I was careful to choose curses that would stick. Ethan and Benny were meant to be werewolf and zombie once. It was my safest revenge . . . and it stripped the two geeks of their innate powers."

"Benny turned Ethan into a werewolf the first time" Jesse now put it. "And the _Lotto Latte_ zombies weren't even cursed.

"But I was allowed to counterfeit the effect" said Stephanie. "And, of course, there's no rule against putting a curse on somebody's body. It's stealing a soul that difficult. Do you five know the difference between a stolen soul and a condemned soul?

There was no answer from Team Sabre plus Erica. Depending on who it was, either they didn't know (Rory) or because they didn't feel like answering (Ethan).

"A condemned soul is his infernal majesty's by right" said Stephanie.

"Like yours" Ethan said icily.

"Don't look so proud, Ethan, thinking about us" smirked Jesse. "Relishing in it is a sin by itself. What do you call it? Yeah, schadenfreude?"

"Nobody's perfect" Ethan admitted, temporarily abashed. But Ethan soon worked himself into a temper; "But you're holding us prisoner, my eyes are glowing yellow, and you're bragging about your working in and for the forces of evil. I'm not perfect but I'm not . . . ."

"You're not me, is it, were-whelp?" Jesse sneered. "You're not, let's see, _murderer, thief, heretic, fraud, necromancer, defiler of women and corrupter of souls._ And condemned to his infernal majesty Old Scratch by right."

"I don't think "by right" is that's the right way to put it" Benny said. "Even forgetting the infernal _fubrecarb._ "

"A stolen soul is one taken prisoner and subject to rescue" said Stephanie. "And that's why I've only cursed you and haven't tried to kill you or take your souls. I didn't go through all this trouble to _try to steal souls_."

"Just ruin our lives?" asked Ethan.

"You should have accepted life as the Whitechapel Werewolf" Stephanie retorted.

"You were expecting Ethan to die in prison, _as a werewolf_ , after mauling Malcolm" Sarah said abruptly.

"Yes" said Stephanie. "But that would have been their fault. My role was just to give Ethan and Benny new lives as . . . exciting . . . varieties of werewolves and zombies. It would have meant the end of their fighting against dark forces. They'd be benched . . . now being monsters themselves.

"W-we fought evil as vamps" Rory reminded Stephanie. "Ethan and Benny could have spent their whole lives as monsters on the side of good."

"A werewolf and zombie? Not the same as a teen with second sight" sneered Jesse "Probably the best seer of his generation. Benny too, might have been a good spellmaster . . . if he were competent."

"I _am_ competent" said Benny indignantly.

"Were!" said Stephanie. "Well, you've probably guessed why I went up north?"

"To make me act the werewolf" said Ethan.

"It wasn't just so you could show your yellow eyes" said Stephanie sardonically. "I was hoping you'd become violent enough to kill or get yourself to get killed. Or give up and live at the fringe of civilization. You must have been thinking of it? You were, weren't you? Your ears move, don't they, when you're upset? I can see from where you combed your hair over the tips."

" _Frack_ my ears" said Ethan bitterly, trying helplessly to kick his way loose from the carpet. "If they do, you know it's your fault. Eyes, ears, teeth, feet, hair, everything."

"Don't whine, Ethan" said Jesse wryly. Jesse smirked. "You know, for a werewhelp, that's a good close shave you had this morning. Most werewolves have five o'clock shadow by noon. Let me guess, straight razor at the _Thunder Bay Plaza Hotel_ barber shop? Extra close, I bet. You wanted to make sure Sarah didn't see you look too wolfish?"

Ethan again struggled with his feet and shoes, seemingly glued to the floor.

"You're still not going to get away with any of this" said Benny hoarsely. "We'll walk out of here human, and you'll still be a ghost."

"You don't know how close you are to being a ghost yourself" said Jesse cooly. "If I was in charge, you would be by now. _If_ your spirit chose to stick around."

"You're not going to kill us?" asked Sarah.

"Oh, I'm not killing you" said Stephanie. "And have your souls fly away to the world to come, forever beyond my reach?"

"Because she sold her soul" said Benny, in surprise. "She can't stand to let ours go to a better place."

"We hope!" said Rory.

"Just not yet" Ethan reminded his pal.

"Uh-huh" said Rory. "I don't want to die yet."

"Then what's she trying to do?" interrupted Sarah.

"You'll . . . be surprised" said Jesse, with an appraising look at Stephanie as she stood up and went to a small drawer in an end table. "Add to her crimes that of . . . .

For a moment, Jesse faltered to describe what Stephanie's scheme.

"Add to her crimes that of an imposter and usurper."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

In writing this, I was trying to make sure it was clear how crazy/evil Stephanie is. It sets up to what Stephanie is aiming to do in the next two chapters.

Inspired by the old movie "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and tv programs which had episodes based on that movie. I should mention specifically the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Devil's Feud Cake".


	39. Queen of the Castle

**QUEEN OF THE CASTLE**

To Ethan's eyes, it looked as if Stephanie had picked up a small wooden hammer. But a moment later, Ethan realized it wasn't a hammer, but a gavel.

It made no sense to Ethan, so he looked at Sarah. Sarah shook her head. Benny shrugged.

"She's going to bean us with it?" suggested Rory.

Stephanie gave her high pitched titter, as she lovingly caressed the gavel.

"I've given it thought, what I'd do if I had to face the five of you" said Stephanie. "Even in my victory, you don't know what hardships I put up with the last few weeks. Forced by you five and Evelyn into plotting, scheming, living in seclusion. And dating Malcolm was even worse. It's as bad as dating one of you three geeks here. And Malcolm's evil twin? And then there was just creeping around. Breaking into the Weir garage. Hiding in a hole like Moose Factory. Setting up your doom here. Thinking up this fool-proof plan."

"A fool proof plan thought up by a fool" said Erica.

"Laugh while you can, Erica" Stephanie continued. "But the others seemed to put a lot of faith in good being more powerful than evil. Evelyn always did believe that."

"Only because it's true" said Benny.

"Ethan admitted you five weren't perfect" Stephanie went on. "Only you were lucky, because it was _just a little too much punishment_ that three of you had your souls cursed for their mistakes. Well, then, I'll make you five suffer a _just_ fate" said Stephanie with a malicious smirk. "You think you're on the side of good and light? That lets you do whatever you want? You're as bad as I am. No worse! Well? I am going to give each of you a punishment to fit your crimes. That way, your punishments will last for life. Maybe even longer!"

And she laughed once more, while Team Sabre plus Erica stared at her.

As for Jesse, he shook his head as if confirming to himself Stephanie's stupidity. Then Jesse shrugged it off, leaned back and gave the appearance of looking forward to watching something that looked to be a lot of fun.

"What do you mean by crimes?" asked Rory.

" _I think she means sins_ " said Ethan disgusted. "It's Anastasia and Harlow giving orders all over again. Only it's a witch instead of a vamp. She thinks she's going to punish us for the mistakes we made in our lives."

"Stephanie thinks she can take on the job of a higher court" said Sarah icily.

"You know, you're taking a page of Jesse's old book, when he was the not so right-Reverend Horace Black" Ethan said heatedly, as he turned to Stephanie. "You sold your soul. But now you think you're a combination minister and judge. This isn't going to end well. You know it."

"Not end well _for you_ , I know that" interrupted Stephanie. "But now you're having me speaking in cliches. Geek! You know courts are used, worldwide, to enforce laws against sin all the time."

"You're not a real court" said Benny.

"I am the law" said Stephanie.

"You're not _Judge Dread_ either" said Benny insolently.

" _Judge Dread_ is a comic book character living in a dystopian future" Ethan said, on noticing Sarah and Erica's puzzled faces. "He's judge, jury and executioner in . . . ."

"I _really_ needed to know that right now" Erica retorted.

"I'm not interested in your children's comics" Stephanie said contemptuously. "Remember, you are in my castle, and my town."

" _Abandoned hotel and ghost town_ " Benny replied. "As they looked back in 1956."

"That's enough of you" said Stephanie, raising her hand. " _Ut quiescat, donec omnes vos loqui bid_."

 _There was a thunderclap._

The five teens were forced into silence. No matter how hard they tried to speak, they couldn't.

Stephanie returned to her chair.

"You can expect judgement without compassion" said Stephanie. "That's true justice."

"That's a parody of justice" shrugged Jesse, surprisingly enough. "Your whole idea is."

"Why, you sympathize with them?" said Stephanie.

"No, but I know stupid when I see it" Jesse yawned. "Trust me, I know more about souls than you."

"I'm not interested in souls" said Stephanie. "I don't intend to do anything to their souls. _Are you done?_ "

Jesse shrugged.

"Try it"

Stephanie smiled, and tittered.

"Now who's first? My oldest enemy here, Evelyn. That is, her grandson. Jack."

Benny was abruptly pulled feet first to a point just in front of Stephanie. Being tall, and a zombie to boot, Benny tumbled ungainly onto the floor.

"The name is _Benny_ " he said angrily, from his spot on the floor.

"Evelyn's only grandson" repeated Stephanie with a smirk. "Right where I want him."

"Leave Grandma out of it" said Benny.

"You have a _fun_ history" said Stephanie. "Ever since you reached fourteen, and your innate magic powers started flowing through your veins, you've loved to use them for yourself."

"And fighting evil" Benny insisted. "Monsters. An awesome spellmaster fighting on the side of good."

"Don't lie to me" said Stephanie, as she held the gavel in her hands like a magic wand. "You've been looking up spells you thought were cool. Like the inside-out spell."

"I just wanted to see what it was like" Benny said. "You know I never used it . . . willingly . . . after that one time to see what it did on that mouse."

"I don't care. Oh, casting a love potion to get girls. Casting a spell to try and get chicks. Bringing back animals from the dead to try and impress Della . . . too bad you'll never see her again."

"You're the zombie-queen here" Benny said indignantly. "I made one mistake with that lawn of the dead-thingy. Besides Grandma already punished me for that."

"I'm not the one being judged" said Stephanie, with a titter. "You are. And you're so selfish. Thinking about making youtube videos. Making a potion to make yourself the next Sidney Crosby. I can go on. Trying to use Ethan to look into the future. Hypnotising cats to bark like dogs and dogs to meow like cats."

"They're just pranks!" said Benny.

"I can go through your less magical pranks" said Stephanie. "Or calling a teacher a fart head. Trying to sneak into a girl's locker room. But I won't. I know you're guilty.

"I don't answer to you, _witch_ " said Benny, whose was so enraged his black pupil-less eyes seemed to boil like hot tar. "Did I say _witch_? I meant . . . ."

"That's enough . . . _Ut quiescat_ " said Stephanie, and Benny found himself speaking without sound.

Stephanie lowered her gavel, rapping it several times on the table.

"I rule you should lose your magical powers for the rest of your life. Well, what are you grinning at? Do you think I can't do it?" demanded Stephanie. " _That Evelyn will undo it. That my powers will again be broken?_ Speak!"

"I . . . didn't say you couldn't" said Benny, evasively.

"But I know what you're thinking" said Stephanie, with a wide smile. "Which is why you are _also_ my zombie slave for the rest of your natural life. Well" Stephanie went on, with a laugh, "un-natural life from now on."

Stephanie raised her hand and muttered another spell.

Benny jumped up as if he had been given a hot foot, and then suffered yet another very bad shock.

"Anything the matter ma'am?" said Benny, in his calm bellboy's voice.

"No, that will be all Jack" said Stephanie. "But I would like you to stand behind me, to my left. But first, go to the kitchenette and make Jesse and me some _café ole_."

"Just make my coffee black" said Jesse.

"Yes, ma'am" said Benny. "Yes sir."

"Make sure you're fast, Jack" said Jesse. "I hate cold coffee."

Ethan, Sarah, Rory and even Erica were shocked. Benny had hopelessly reverted to "Jack" the bellhop, with a wave of Stephanie's hand.

"Jesse, I'm getting sick of seeing those eighteenth century clothes of yours" said Stephanie. "Are you ready?"

"I wanted to settle the traitor first" said Jesse. "You need to deal with him, before Jack comes back with my coffee."

"Well, let's see Rory Ransom Keener" said Stephanie.

Rory was slid across the floor only to hastily clamber up before the witch-and-ghost-duo.

"I've been sorry about the bloodsucker thing _for months_ " Rory said, as that was what he expected to be condemned for. "And Benny's been sorry about the whole misuse of magic thing. Come on, Stephanie. Turn him back."

"Oh, you've been sorry about becoming a bloodsucker" said Stephanie. "Like that _should_ matter. Maybe being bitten and brainwashed wasn't your fault. Maybe you don't even have murder on your conscious. But there's one thing you can't escape."

"What?" asked Rory.

"For almost two years . . . ." started Stephanie.

"One year, ten months" said Rory determinedly.

"You stole life to survive" Stephanie said.

"Huh?" said Rory.

"By drinking their blood, you drained the life out of the animals you killed" Jesse said casually.

"You're lecturing me, about stealing lives!" said Rory indignantly.

"No, she is" said Jesse cooly. "But it's not easy to make a moron like you understand."

"I could also go over a long history of pranks" said Stephanie. "But I won't."

"My pranks don't cause anyone anything worse than an orange face or a bucketful of water to their head" Rory retorted. "Doug Falconheart's _Rule One_ of pranks is that you don't hurt anyone in anything except their dignity. My . . . pranks . . . are . . . _awesome_."

"Like . . . I . . . care" said Stephanie. "Drinking blood is different from eating meat. The blood is the life. When you drink blood, you steal life. You can't make up for the lives you stole. You should sooner have died of a painful starvation after being bit by Erica than taste a single drop of blood. You should have died in agony, every fibre of your cursed fledgeling body thirsting for blood."

"Nuh-uh?" said Rory, who looked to his friends, was unsure of the answer.

Ethan shook his head. Ethan's eyes positively blazed yellow. His shock over Benny had returned to anger. Although Ethan didn't know what Stephanie's plans were with Rory, but he did realize that she was playing mind games with him.

"I guess I should have looked to that blood substitute that Sarah used to use" Rory admitted. "But Benny's Grandma wouldn't have made it for me since Jesse . . . ."

Rory had been looking at Stephanie, but now he stared at Jesse. Rory had been cautious enough when Jesse appeared through the _Spirit Speaker_ , but now Rory glared at the mocking ghost with unconcealed anger.

"It's too late" said Stephanie, as she again rapped her gavel. "You can't give those rats and birds their lives back, can you? So you must forfeit your life for another. " _Tu animam tuam detrimentum faciat animae vis alterius et renovare_."

Rory was gone in an instant, replaced by the short action figure of a helmeted astronaut that had fallen with a thud upon the floor.

"You see, it's a lot like the spell Jane used to bring to life Debbie Dazzle" said Stephanie. "Only it has a much more permanent effect."

Ethan, for his part, only stared at the action figure a moment. He looked at Jesse with his furiously burning eyes.

Jesse was back in the same clothes he had worn when he had aged to death, right after the Lucifractor exploded. But Jesse was only almost the same. Ethan didn't notice, but Sarah did.

Jesse was thinner, slightly shorter, and had a more boyish face.

"In the flesh, Ethan" said Jesse. "The living, human flesh"

To prove it, Jesse snapped his left thumb and forefinger. To Ethan, Sarah and Erica's surprise, like Benny's, Jesse's thumb set out a few magical sparks.

Jesse smirked at their shocked faces.

"You forget, I was born a spellmaster" Jesse said. "Your geeky friend was a sixteen year old boy. I have his _life force_. I'm restored to my living, breathing sixteen-year-old self."

Jesse rudely picked up Rory, holding him upside down by his plastic, space-suited foot.

"Nice work" Jesse said casually. "Rory's even stamped _Made in Canada_ with a red maple leaf on his right heel. He ought to get at least a dollar at a good yard sale."

"Pass him to me . . . oh, I should say it" said Stephanie, with a laugh. "You haven't seen the best part. Try the button on top of his helmet."

Stephanie duly pressed a blue button atop Rory.

" _Whazzzzzzzzzzzzz-up!_ " said Rory. " _Whazzzzzzz-up!_ " " _Awesome!_ " " _You can call me the Rorster!_ "

Stephanie and Jesse were still laughing when "Jack the Bellhop" returned with their coffee.


	40. Total Defeat

**TOTAL DEFEAT**

Stephanie and Jesse drank their coffee calmly, ignoring the stares of the three spell-struck teens standing in front of them. Or the teens' periodic attempts to move.

Neither Sarah, Erica or Ethan could move a muscle. It was hopeless.

Benny Jack Weir had reverted to a motionless black-eyeballed zombie in red bellboy uniform. Rory Ransom Keener, the Astronaut, had been placed on a table, his plastic face staring out of its helmet like a cheap knock-off of _Buzz Lightyear_.

"Any suggestions Jack?" said Jesse.

"No sir" said Benny, coming to life with a salute. "It wouldn't be my place."

"It would be mine" said Stephanie. "I'd like to take care of Ethan now."

Ethan had the indignity of being floated towards them.

"Sorry Ethan. Werewolves are dangerous animals" said Jesse mockingly, as he stood up and leaned cooly on the back of Stephanie's chair.

"I'm not going to cooperate" said Ethan. "I-I'm just going to warn you this isn't going to work."

"With your werewolf hearing, you can still listen" said Stephanie, unimpressed. "One thing I am disappointed in. Counterfeit or not, I was hoping for a more dog-like look."

"A werewolf has to have a human form" said Jesse. "There are some things that you need to be a man to do. Not that Ethan has the nerve. It took him almost two years to ask her out. _Oh, what did the Rorster say?_ One year ten months?"

Ethan growled angrily, it would be better to call it a roar. Sarah, who was still bolted in place, could have killed with the look of hatred she gave Jesse. As for Erica, she was greatly offended on Sarah's behalf.

You weren't very understanding of David Stochowski, Ethan" observed Stephanie, with a giggle. "Maybe that's why it was your bad luck to be a werewolf for one night. You wanted to expose him instead of save him."

"We thought he was a typical evil werewolf" growled Ethan. "Not a reluctant were-dog."

"Your problem is a bad temper" said Stephanie. "A bad temper and intolerance. You can't stand jocks and your perpetually angry."

"I'm not perpetually angry" Ethan said, still in a growl.

"But when you get angry, you explode" said Jesse. "You don't know how to keep a cool head."

"I used to!" said Ethan. "Before this crap!"

"A proud, angry, jealous resentful geek" said Stephanie.

"That's not true!" said Ethan.

"You're going to deny being jealous of me and Sarah?" asked Jesse, looking at Sarah slyly (and meeting with her look of deadly contempt).

"I said it before" said Ethan, finally swallowing the growl. "Nobody's perfect. I'm resentful . . . but only sometime. But being human, we try to be good people. It's like what Leslie Neilson says in _Forbidden Planet_. " _We're all part monsters in our subconscious, that's why we have laws and religion."_

Jesse laughed.

"I watched that film when it was in theatres" Jesse told Ethan. "Back when Sci-Fi was actually considered cool. You know it came out in '56? New this year. Does the hotel have a copy of the film, Jack?"

"Jack" saluted to life. "We have a theatre room. I can check sir?"

"No, just wait" said Jesse. "I don't feel like watching it without your were-whelp friend. He'll be in no shape . . . or form . . . to watch it."

"What do you mean?" asked Ethan worriedly.

"You're so resentful of other people" mused Stephanie sardonically. "You were willing to expose David and ruin his life for a bit of film. You're so proudly self-assured."

"I'm not!" Ethan said.

"Oh yes, you are" Stephanie continued, again bringing down her gavel. "A proud geek, the worst kind. So really, you don't deserve to be a seer, or even to listen to your music, read your comic books or date your girl in peace. _You will be a werewolf for life_ , cursed with werewolf instincts. And the more you're a werewolf, the more your personality will suit your instincts. So you might have to live in that cabin in the woods. _Even a man who's pure at heart and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the Autumn moon shines bright."_

"I know the poem" said Ethan bitterly.

"But you don't know I think I'll keep you in wolf form until further notice" said Stephanie.

"The full moon's almost a month away."

"You're forgetting the _Canis Lupis_ spell . . . so simple even _Jack_ could use it" Jesse observed.

"You do the honours, Jesse" said Stephanie. "And make it fast. I don't want to see Ethan stumble-around growing fangs in front of me."

"Ethan also thinks that part of being a werewolf is crazy" said Jesse, as he looked with amusement at Ethan's eyes.

The yellow eyes finally faded as fear replaced anger. Ethan struggled harder than ever to escape the spell holding him in place.

"Pay attention Jack" Jesse said slowly. " _This_ is how you do the _Canis Lupis_ spell so you don't have a ricochet. Open the double window there. The one behind Ethan."

"Yes sir!" said Benny with a salute.

"Canis Lupis" said Jesse forcefully, and seemingly throwing an invisible baseball, blasted Ethan.

The force of the spell pushed Ethan through the window, landing with a thud eight stories below.

Jesse sauntered over to look. For a moment, Ethan lay motionless on the ground. But then Ethan's werewolf healing ability coupled with Jesse's curse set in.

This sped up the process to less than a half minute. One moment, Ethan was a unconscious teen boy with a long haircut and pointed ears, groaning after what should have been a fatal blow. Then he was shaken by several rapid convulsions. Looking from above, Jesse was hard pressed to tell when Ethan had _exactly_ become a werewolf in badly ripped and undersized clothes.

Jesse didn't even try to stop from laughing as Ethan struggled to his feet, or rather his back paws. The werewolf's confused look was of someone . . . or something . . . trying to get his thoughts in order.

"You want to see Ethan?" asked Jesse.

"No, I'll know by the howl, when it comes" said Stephanie. "Pass the Rory action figure over."

" _Floatum Rory nummow_ " said Jesse.

With a point of Jesse's index finger, what was left of Rory floated to the air and landed with a clack on Stephanie's table.

Stephanie laughed.

" _Whazzzz up . . . . . . . Whazzzzzzz up . . . . . . . . Whazzzzzzzzzz up_ " repeated Rory every once in a while.

"He's doing a good job" said Jesse.

"Rory?" asked Stephanie.

"No, Ethan" said Jesse, looking at his watch. "After that fall, the lycanthrope in Ethan should have taken over. Ethan's been trying to keep his mind working this time."

"It's impossible without magic" said Stephanie. "A human mind won't work in a werewolf brain. But just in case . . . I can send some skeletons to un-focus his mind."

"Ethan won't be able to keep his head if he see me" said Jesse dryly. "He was heading for the hotel. Now he's stalling, starting to stumble. Okay, Ethan. I see you're forgetting who you are. It's dusk, even in this fog. Onto your four paws, boy."

" _Ahoooooooooooooooooooooo"_

"And there he goes into the woods to look for prey" said Jesse, as he closed the window.

"And that's the last we'll hear of Ethan Morgan" said Stephanie. "In a couple of years, I might even turn him back.

"I think I'd show him some compassion" said Jesse. "Make it one year and ten months."

"I'll do that" laughed Stephanie. "Two years or one year and ten months, makes no difference. By then Ethan'll long be used to be a creature of the woods. Even when he's turned back, he'll find himself wanting to live in the northern woods like an animal. He might even make a good replacement for the Wendigo."

"Until it's summoned back" Jesse said. "Now, here's Erica. I'm _almost_ sorry for doing this to her."

Erica was pulled before the two. She crossed her arms and gave a dignified stare.

"Don't think you're going to shame me" said Erica.

"No" said Stephanie. "In a way you're my most important subject. You're the only one who, if she died now, would have her soul pass to Mr. Scratch."

"Don't try that crap on me."

"Like me, you've never had any real regrets for what you did as a vampire" said Jesse, as he leaned on his chair and looked at Erica appraisingly. "If Ethan hadn't destroyed my flock, I'd still have you at my side."

"I'd have been finished with you" Erica announced. "Especially after you glamoured me. And by the way, you looked like a real geek at sixteen."

"There was a shopgirl and a scullery maid who didn't think so" Jesse said evenly.

"You may be finished with him" said Stephanie. "But I'm not with you. The point is that I can sacrifice you to his infernal majesty, and he'll collect your soul. He may even accept it as barter for my own."

"No, Scratch won't do that" said Jesse impatiently.

"I'll have to wait a week" said Stephanie, again rapping her gavel. "But until then, I'll let you be one of my cheerleaders. You'll find your uniform in the next room."

Stephanie didn't say anything further. But like Stephanie did a couple years before, she merely stared at Erica with glowing red eyes.

" _Oh!_ " said Erica in sudden change of tone. "I can't wait."

"Do us a cheer!" said Jesse in a faux-pleading voice. "But first take off your jacket!"

Erica obeyed. And doing several cartwheels, sang at the top of her voice:

" _Give me a D! Give me a E! Give me a V! Give me a I! Give me an L! Give me an S! What does that spell?_ "

"Devils?" asked Jesse mockingly.

"Yeah!" said Erica. " _Whitechapel, Whitechapel, Go, Go. Go!_ Oof"

Erica had bumped into the motionless Benny. Who stayed motionless.

"Ooh, move over!" Erica said, and left the room to go after her uniform.

"What next?" asked Stephanie, once Erica had left.

"I think I have a soft spot . . . in my head . . . for the "our team is dynamite" cheer" Jesse said in a contemptuous tone. "But face it, the only thing that cheerleaders are for is to look at. No guy really cares what a cheerleader actually cheers."

"Yes . . . they . . . do!" said Stephanie.

Jesse shrugged.

"The rest of my deal!" he said.

The two plotters looked towards Sarah. This time, Jesse and Stephanie walked towards her.

"You may speak!" said Stephanie imperiously. "But we know you're better in martial arts than you have any right to be, so you'll find yourself still stuck to the floor."

Sarah had watched everything unfold with as much shock and anger as she could bear.

Now Sarah could finally speak. So she spoke her mind. It was just too bad she couldn't move. Some well aimed kicks and karate chops would have done wonders.

"I don't know what _crimes_ you're going to find me guilty of" Sarah said heatedly. "Probably surviving on donated blood the year I was a full vampire. I wanted to live, and you know Jesse, you're the one who made me live that way! I accepted it, I had no choice. I could no more stop drinking blood than Ethan can stop eating raw meat. And you know why!"

"You saved Ethan's life" said Jesse, coldly. " _Because you love the geek with all your heart. The awkward, clumsy comic-book reading, gaming, prank-playing nerd."_

"I do" Sarah said indignantly. "I might be as big a nerd as Ethan is for saying it . . . but _I love him_. Far more than I ever liked you, Jesse. As for Ethan being a geek . . . he's cool where and when it counts. He's the sweetest guy I've ever known."

" _Handsome is as handsome does_ " sneered Jesse.

"And if you think that your kangaroo court _punishment_ will hold forever, just remember what happened the last time you put your curses on us" Sarah retorted.

"Mr. Scratch's curses" Stephanie replied. "But we're not going after you only for the blood. For your admiring vampires, and _Dusk_ , and the trappings of romance without the love."

"I thought the _Dusk_ stories were just novels" said Sarah, who felt slightly embarrassed.

"You might say it was poetic justice that I had turned you" said Jesse sarcastically. "You earned what you loved to read about, and obsess over. But you didn't want it in real life."

" _You're an idiot, Jesse_ " Sarah said, still red faced. "Just because I read about a girl who fell in love with a teen bloodsucker, didn't mean I wanted to be her. _Sparkling Dusk vampires aren't real vampires."_

"No, it was Erica who took it seriously" said Jesse wryly. "And here she comes."

" _Our team is dynamite, BOOM, BOOM, we're going to win tonight! LOUDER, LOUDER, we're going to win tonight!"_ sang Erica, skipping across the floor in the red Whitechapel High School cheerleading uniform.

"We are" said Stephanie. "Jack will take to the kitchenette and get you some tomato juice, Erica"

"I love red drinks" Erica replied. "Come on Jack!"

Erica pulled Benny by the arm, bringing him to life before he could salute.

"Tomato juice, Stephanie!" Benny said obediently. "Right away!"

"These spells aren't going to last" Sarah repeated, as she watched Erica and Benny disappear down a hall.

"Aren't you interested in what's going to happen to you?" asked Stephanie.

"What?" asked Sarah, sardonically. "Am I going to be a maid? A doll? A cheerleader? Or a werewolf? I know you can't turn me into a vampire."

" _You're going to be mine_ " said Jesse, with a smirk. "That was part of Stephanie's offer. And you know why? I put a lot of effort in getting you as my new chick. I substituted Erica for you, but you know what? You caused me a lot of pain. The best way to put that behind me is by having you."

" _That's never going to happen!_ " Sarah retorted, but only after a moment of stunned silence.

Stephanie didn't answer, but looked into Sarah's eyes with her own glowing red ones.

* * *

There was one hopeful sign amongst all this catastrophe. When Jesse kissed Sarah, she reacted automatically. Sarah felled him with a karate chop to the back of the neck.

"I think she hates you too much for the trance to work" said Stephanie, as she looked on from her high-back chair with amusement.

"Then she can just work for me until I make a love potion" said Jesse bitterly, as he brought himself up to his feet.

"I can make it up to you" said Stephanie.

"The last man you dated ended up with a flea problem" said Jesse. "No way."

"No, I'll give you a zombie slave" Stephanie said. "Jack. I'm getting tired of him anyways."

"Ethan's girl and Ethan's best friend" said Jesse wryly. "Not bad. Plus his friend Malcolm's car, once I get it running. The _Challenger_ is my style.""

"Why not just take one of the _Chrysler Imperials?_ " said Stephanie.

"A boat like that?" scoffed Jesse. "What do you think I am, a geezer? By the way, how long do you want me to stay with you in this dump?"

"Until I sacrifice Erica, and until we can make sure Evelyn doesn't have some plans of her own. I want your help if I have to fight her. And I really don't want you and Sarah leading her to me."

"About a week" shrugged Jesse, with a laugh. "I'll take Sarah and Jack to South America. I still have my money and I'll have Ethan Phillip Morgan and Rory Ransom Keener's passports. I just have to decide which passport to alter as my own."

"By then the trail will be stone cold" said Stephanie evenly. "Erica will have gone to the devil and I'll have gone to the French Riviera. And it's not as if Evelyn will be able to hunt down Ethan. He's just a wild animal now."

Stephanie laughed as Jack and Erica brought a tray full of hors d'oeuvre's for her to sample. She was _blissfully_ unaware that in passing " _judgement_ " on Team Sabre plus Erica she had sown the seeds of her own defeat.


	41. Again, The Soul Idea

**Again, The Soul Idea**

It was fortunate for Ethan's future peace of mind that he was in an isolated, unpopulated area. Because there was little he did for the next several days that was any different from that of a ferocious, bloodthirsty werewolf.

Passing into the forest, soon were-Ethan left the foggy warm weather, the depraved echo of August 1956, and entered the genuine winter of the present day.

And so, sadly, were-Ethan hunted prey, scratched trees, slept, and did everything a real werewolf did for the next four days. Except eat human beings; not because were-Ethan didn't want to, but because there were none around.

It shouldn't be forgotten that Were-Ethan was a lazy werewolf, and not all that smart.

Were-Ethan was, however, was lonely for his own (lycanthropic) kind from time to time. Werewolves tend to howl even more than regular wolves. So, he made a lot of noise across his territory.

The last time he had been a werewolf he had gotten used to clothes. So were-Ethan still wore what was left of them. Another red jacket, t-shirt and jeans. Muddy, bloodstained, and ripped. And getting worse all the time. Yet, they were the last signal of him being more than a demonic dog prowling the werewolf.

That was the state of play was exactly four days since Ethan had been placed into a werewolf's body. Were-Ethan marked the occasion by entering a fight to the death. With a pack of real wolves.

* * *

Were-Ethan had howled his loneliness after killing a buck, a white-tailed deer. The deer was, of course, much smaller than a moose but more flavourful.

Were-Ethan picked up his ears as he heard howls answering. It was in ten minutes that a pack of eight timber wolves, or grey wolves, arrived on the scene.

Wolves are, unsurprisingly, the one animal that tolerates a werewolf the night of the full moon. Werewolves tend to be their ally, _the night of the full moon_.

But, contrary to _Dusk_ , a pack of wolves is a genuinely inter-related family members. Not allies, genetic family. And, what's more, wolves are natural as compared to unnatural animals. Real wolves are also territorial animals. Were-Ethan had been prowling in their neck of the woods.

It was not the night of the full moon. And they saw no reason to continue to tolerate a cursed teenager in their midst.

Were-Ethan was taken aback to see the wolves, much smaller than himself, start growling hideously as him. The look of hurt showed in his face as clearly as that of any dog.

Were-Ethan backed off. He had been constantly on four legs for the last couple days, but fear made him go back into the old two legged stance.

Were-Ethan was knocked over as the wolves attacked . . . .

Were-Ethan healed nearly instantly, the wolves didn't. Were-Ethan was over seven feet tall, the real wolves were only about five to six feet _long_. Were-Ethan's claws were much deadlier. And were-Ethan's fangs were much sharper.

It was like a scene from a horror movie. There was more blood at the scene of the battle than at Jesse's last vampire party.

Seven of the eight wolves were killed. Two slowly bled to death from being cut down by were-Ethan's claws. The remainder had their necks torn out by were-Ethan's fangs.

But the lonely werewolf seemed psychologically shocked by the attack; if in fact such a thing was possible for a werewolf.

Ethan, the human Ethan, would be disturbed if his friends decided to attack him. And it was this fight that gave Ethan's human soul the first fighting chance. To do the impossible.

On his large hind paws and claws (the shoes had fallen off in the woods), were-Ethan wandered confusedly back onto the snowmobile trail that used to be the rail-line to Leeblaine.

Again, faintly, he smelt four humans. The unappetizing walking-dead Benny. The shoe leather and acne treatment of Rory and the human version of Ethan. Yet Sarah and Erica smelt much better than Rory and Ethan. Something about girl's soap, and girls in general, smelt more attractive than boy's shoe leather and acne treatment. Not to mention the unappetizing smell of Rory's garlic and Ethan's shaving foam from his trip to the _Thunder Bay Plaza Hotel_ barbershop.

Were-Ethan continued along the old railroad right-of-way. He stopped suddenly at the cut where the fog began. No other animals had crossed this barrier. _They_ knew _better_. But the werewolf was encouraged to continue on.

Were-Ethan ignored the Wendigo's victim on the side of the trail. Werewolves aren't interested in corpses.

* * *

In the early morning hours, were-Ethan found himself in the main street of the village, still prowling on his hind legs.

And, again, were-Ethan was a lazy werewolf. And a nearly-always hungry werewolf. That led him to the _Leeblaine General Store_.

The door was unlocked. But were-Ethan, too stupid to use the doorknob, ended up dropping to all fours, and growling and clawing at the door until the latch gave way. He went in, but the door swung back and caught. Were-Ethan didn't notice.

The general store was dominated by a large wooden counter. The counter, in turn, was dominated by an enormous, black mechanical cash register. The wooden shelves behind were well stocked with cans and boxes. But this store was rather large, and the stock wasn't only behind the counter. Old school store displays abounded (with old school prices); there were cans of soup piled in pyramids, shelves of cereal boxes, coffee tins, a wooden pickle barrel and fresh produce on hand display. This was, after all, an important village. At least during the summer trade.

Further in back, were the "dry goods". Clothing piled on shelves. In front, by the window, a number of nineteen-fifties magazines.

None of this interested Were-Ethan. What did, however, was the refrigerated meat counter in the corner. It was this smell that had lured him in. The outside painted a bright white, with choice steaks, roasts, chops and sausages behind. Even the circular meat grinder atop smelt pleasantly of an amalgam of meats.

Were-Ethan didn't try to figure out how to open the refrigerator unit. He just smashed the glass and _wolfed_ down the meat.

Disappointed by his recent experience with the wolf pack, were-Ethan decided to forgo howling. Besides, he was inside a dark cave! And, maybe, he wanted to keep the cave for himself.

Although curiosity wasn't in the nature of werewolves, _it was_ in Ethan's. And the werewolf felt compelled to look around his new habitat.

And now, a combination of elements came into play. In their way, they'd be as much a lucky break for Ethan, as when, despite the teen's lack of athleticism, his perfect lighter set of the theatre sprinkler system a couple years before.

Ethan's human soul was attached to a werewolf, a brute animal without compunction or compassion. But even that night of the full moon, his soul had influenced his inhuman brain and body. A few days ago, Ethan had fought _tooth and nail_ to keep control on the hotel grounds and was only finally overpowered by the impossibility of having human thoughts in a dog's brain.

Ethan was going to have to do the _impossible_. Or maybe it wasn't impossible? Just highly improbable.

Stephanie's special curse made it so Ethan would remember everything he did as a werewolf after-the-fact. This curse was made so he wouldn't suffer the typical "werewolf-amnesia". While Ethan's mind could be missing in action for a night, his thoughts had been scattered for four days and counting. Ethan only needed a trigger to return to consciousness.

Were-Ethan had just eaten the store's stock in meat. And his current mind, what there was of it, was at ease.

Were-Ethan was drawn to the glossy magazines. The first one that caught his eye was an old business magazine, _Canadian Electronics Review_. The cover had a photo of a room filled with cabinets of blinking lights and whirling round disks. "First IBM 704 installed in Canada". Lower on the page, the magazine noted "This amazing machine contains 18,432 bytes of memory in only nine imperial tonnes of equipment."

Were-Ethan couldn't read it. But he stared for a few moments at the old computer. Something about it seemed . . . funny. As if he should like looking at the picture. Were-Ethan sniffed it, but couldn't decipher a thing.

Were-Ethan went on to look at another magazine. _Sirens of the Screen, Past and Present_ it announced. There was no photo on the cover, but the outside was painted red so it attracted the were-wolf's attention.

Were-Ethan clumsily picked it up with his right paw. But his paw wasn't meant for that type of work, especially with its two inches of sharp claw at the end. Not really knowing what a magazine was (were-Ethan had a vague idea there would be meat inside), he dropped it to the floor.

The magazine opened to a full page photo near the middle, as if it had been opened there before. It was a famous picture first taken a couple years before, from a movie called _The Seven Year Itch_. There was the famous blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, standing above a subway grate. The breeze sent her skirt halfway up in the air.

Were-Ethan did a double-take, and then _Ethan_ thought about Sarah. _Ethan_ figured there was _no way_ Sarah would go stand above a subway grate in a skirt, as awesome as that would be.

From the moment Ethan knocked his tray of food into Sarah, he couldn't get her out of mind. It wasn't the best way to meet a future girlfriend, but fate sometimes works in interesting ways.

And this was how Ethan's mind was again his own; although, at the moment, he was still stuck in the body of a werewolf.


	42. The Deadly Silver Dollar

**The Deadly Silver Dollar**

Ethan's first thought after being jolted back into consciousness, was . . . . _"Where the heck am I?"_

Then the skeletons, the nightmare at the hotel, the fate of Benny and Rory, and the unknown "punishments" meted out to Erica and Sarah came slowly to mind. Ethan's miserable days as a wolf too. And how he was in the ghostly copy of the Leeblaine General Store.

And the fog. It wasn't just the fog outside. It was as if his mind was full of fog, making his wits dull and slow. It was almost a dream-like state. It was the consequence of Ethan's human mind running a werewolf's brain.

Ethan jumped to his feet, and promptly toppled over. He didn't realize how top-heavy he was. He didn't even realize he was still a werewolf.

The involuntary growling brought it to Ethan's attention. So did the black, wet nose at the front of his field of vision. And if those didn't, Ethan's long paws ending in two inches of razor sharp nails would.

"I can't be!" Ethan tried to complain. But he couldn't speak, all that came out was a strangled growl. He couldn't even talk.

Ethan wondered what to do. He suddenly hit on an idea. Ethan stumbled over to the back of the store, near the dry goods. Ethan had the vague idea that he could go and wear a trench-coat, like _The Thing_ or one the _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_. And no one would notice him being a werewolf!

Usually, Ethan was a lot smarter and far more practical! He knew the difference between real life and comics and cartoons. But in his fogged mind, he _really_ liked the idea of dressing like a comic book hero!

There was a full length mirror near the back of the store. Ethan caught a glimpse. The first glance at himself _as a werewolf_ since he was chained up the night of the full moon. Then he stopped and cringed as what passed for his face fell. He realized the trench-coat idea wasn't going to work.

The werewolf in his reflection cringed back at Ethan. _It was so bad it would be the stuff of nightmares._

Ethan wondered if werewolves "naturally" had black fur or if it was a holdover from his hair colour. But it did camouflage Ethan into the night. Where it wasn't splashed with red blood. That was bad, but it was just the start. He had a look at the wolf ears atop his ear, the long snout, and the sharp fangs when he looked inside his mouth. And the yellow eyes.

Ethan waved one of the paws back and forth, looking unhappily as its reflection followed. The forearms, or forelegs were exposed. Ethan's arms were, he remembered miserably, stretched to be as long as his legs.

The red flannel jacket was missing most of the buttons, and the t-shirt underneath was torn, blood and mud splattered. Because Ethan's trunk had been reshaped like an ordinary wolf's. It explained why Ethan felt top-heavy.

All at once his eyes blazed. Ethan lost his temper. He knocked down a hat stand, a sale on socks. He send some oranges flying. Then Ethan stumbled into a pyramid of sale price Rover-brand dog food cans. Ten cents each.

For a few minutes were-Ethan was back as he madly opened each can using his claws as a can opener. He swallowed the contents whole like _Popeye_ swallowing a can of spinach.

But the were-Ethan instincts soon yielded to the control of Ethan's rightful mind and soul. Four cans of dog food and his mind was back for good.

Ethan looked about, remembered who, what and where he was. With decidedly less enthusiasm, he continued to use his claw as a can opener and eat the dog food. He realized food kept him happy, even though eating dog food was a major embarrassment.

"I still don't have my mind back" Ethan tried to say to himself, although nothing but growling escaped his mouth. "It's not just that I hate being a _fracking_ werewolf; I can't stay like this and keep control . . . for long. I wish someone here to talk to . . . I wish _I could_ talk."

Ethan continued to eat dog food, and battled with the cobwebs in his dog's brain. Mind over matter, the figurative wheels in his head slowly and rustily turned.

Ethah wasn't in "werewolf form" because the full moon revealed his "true self" (yeah, like that was his "true" form!). It was only a second spell from Jesse, the " _Canis Lupis_ ", that put him in werewolf form. There was nothing shining in the sky _keeping_ him in werewolf form. If Ethan could break that second spell, he'd be human. Well, a werewolf in human form.

Ethan growled with disgust. If Ethan could do that, he would break the spell that had turned him into a werewolf in the first place! Not only was Jesse a spellmaster, Stephanie more powerful than ever, Ethan's smart phone with the antidote spells was stored in Malcolm's wrecked Challenger.

Well, Ethan couldn't get to the smart phone. What else would revert him? That potion he took the last time. That potion that nobody the _frack_ knew how to make or find. Someone, (was it Evelyn or the King Gremlin?) someone had identified it as the Master Reversal Cure, that undid all curses. Maybe it was hidden in the general store? Ethan snarled.

"I need to get real!" he thought, with a groan that came out as growl. "I'm a werewolf eating dog-food and I'm . . . telling myself to get real? Ethan, get real!"

What else did Ethan know about reverting werewolves? He thought back to when Doug Falconheart had visited with the fake werewolf paw. Ethan the seer had _seen_ it was a fake. He told Doug it was a fake, a real werewolf would permanently revert when he was killed and the curse left his body.

"That's too permanent" thought Ethan miserably. "But . . . what if . . . I could shock my system into reverting. Without killing myself?

Ethan remembered that his first "shock" forced this curse on him. And the shock of being thrown out the window ("defenestrated" as Rory pointed out a couple weeks ago, Ethan's mind was wandering) help turn him quickly. So, what kind of shock would work? Something a werewolf couldn't stand. Like silver? And where would you find silver in a 1956 General Store, deep in the forest and just north of the Canada-US border?

Ethan swallowed his last can of dog food. He remembered the silver quarter Erica had used to "test" him.

Ethan looked at the old mechanical cash register.

Never was a werewolf so quick to his hind feet. Ethan wobbled for a moment, then clumsily ran over. He pounded the cash register with his paws, until it opened. The silver coinage positively glared in his eyes, and forced on him a wave of nausea.

Nothing! Ethan thought more drastic measures were necessary. He looked into the drawer, ignoring the copper pennies and nickle nickels. He only gave a cursory glance at the 1950's series of bank notes.

In 1956, there were four silver coins in Canada. The dime, the quarter, the half dollar. But the largest was the old Canadian Silver Dollar, with a voyageur . . . a French fur trader . . . travelling along with an Indian in a canoe. On the opposite side, was a portrait of the queen.

Ethan took a deep breath. He picked up a silver dollar and immediately dropped it to the floor. Ethan put a paw over his mouth (or muzzle) to suppress the howl of pain. Ethan didn't howl, but only because he managed to punch himself in the nose; Ethan wasn't used to his nose extending six inches from his eyes.

The horrible smell of burnt fur wafted up in his nostrils, but it finally disappeared.

Still nothing! Ethan was stuck as a werewolf.

Ethan was desperate. Very desperate. A dangerous idea occurred to him when he had punched himself in the nose. _Some antidotes you have to eat or drink._

"If I don't, I'll never be human again" thought Ethan. "It's this or nobody gets out of this town alive. I'm seven feet of werewolf. Once coin shouldn't kill me."

Ethan grabbed a paper bag from behind the counter, and gingerly picked up the dropped silver dollar. He closed his eyes and dropped it down his six-inches of muzzle and sharp teeth.

It was worse than the ghost pepper. Worse than anything he imagined, as it slowly went down his gullet. Ethan literally felt it fall into his stomach. And then, instantly, not a burning but an icy cold flowed through him. He collapsed.

* * *

The next thing Ethan knew was the dullest, faintest daylight was shining through the thick fog and the front window of the General Store. He rubbed his eyes and felt his natural nose.

"YESSSSSS!" said Ethan, jumping up and ignoring the wave of nausea at the cash register.

"Dude, do I ever love my voice! How long has it been three days? Four days? A week?"

Ethan rushed to the mirror. He still had the pointed ears, and the scraggly beard was back. His teeth were slightly too sharp, and too white. Ethan also had an unsettled feeling in his stomach, as if he had ate something that had disagreed with him. But he was otherwise human.

"I swear!" Ethan said, raising his right hand. "I'm going to save everyone. Sarah, Benny, Rory. Erica. And I'm not going to rest until Werewolf Ethan is a thing of the past!"

Ethan gave a wry look at his wrecked clothes. But he was in an abandoned General Store! At first he was going for another red flannel jacket. But then he thought better of it.

"I could risk breaking into the hotel" said Ethan to himself, leaning again a cupboard. "But I think I have a better way to get past the skeletons and the zombie staff. I might even be able to get Bellboy Benny . . . Jack . . . to work for me. That stupid trench-coat idea gives me a much better idea."

About an hour later, Ethan walked back to the cash register. He was clean-shaven, wearing a black suit and tie, and carrying a small black suitcase at his side.

Ethan not only had a plan to get into the hotel, but how to finally defeat Stephanie.

Ethan took a deep breath, opened the cash register and removed the bills. He counted out $200.00 in 1954 series banknotes and put it in a wallet he had picked up.

Ethan looked back at the cash register guiltily. He had taken a lot. And there was a lot of damage to the store.

And Ethan was the guy who had once fought to protect a _blood van_ from vampires.

Ethan removed a note pad from behind the counter.

Ethan wrote " _I.O.U Owner of Leeblaine General Store in 1956. And no one or nothing else but owner of the Leeblaine General Store in 1956! $201.00. Refrigerator full of meat. 25 cans of dog food. 1 man's suit, black. 1 dress shirt. 1 undershirt. 1 pair spaceship-pattern boxers. Pair black socks. Pair black boots. 1 suitcase. 1 wallet. 1 electric razor. 1 copy of Sirens of the Screen. 1 copy of Canadian Electronics Review. Ethan Morgan._ "

"Leaving an I.O.U. is something Rory would do" Ethan said. "This place shouldn't even be here any . . .."

But to Ethan's surprise, his written I.O.U. vanished and was replaced with another handwritten note:

"No charge. My compliments. Sincerely, Leslie McAdams. The last proprietor of the Leeblaine General Store. Get rid of the witch and let my town and store rest in peace."

Ethan looked at the note for a second, then he looked around. But there was nothing to look at. His seeing power was gone. So Ethan gave a nervous grin, and rushed out of the store.


	43. A New Use for Differential Calculus

**A New Use for Differential Calculus**

Ethan refined his plan as he walked the road to the Leeblaine Hotel. He had, for a moment, thought of finding a car and just driving up, but he didn't want to alert Jesse or Stephanie. They just might hear the motor. But Ethan's walking in? Unlikely. From his short time at the hotel, Ethan had noticed that the best rooms faced the fog-shrouded lake. So Ethan could walk up to the front entrance with their _probably_ being none the wiser.

Ethan walked past the church and the old _Esso_ station. The gas station and garage should still have been blown to pieces, but it had _restored itself_ in the past few days. Ethan stared at it, grimaced, and walked on.

Leaving town, Ethan walked the lonely misty road with only the sound of his feet on the asphalt pavement. Finally, he reached the crest of the hill; Ethan looked down at the hotel, the streamlined, art-deco castle. Ethan quickly hid behind a tree.

Ethan's view was partially obscured by the ever–present fog. But there was that regiment of zombie skeletons marching around. " _Clatter, clatter, clatter_ " Stephanie had seeming left nothing to chance.

"I'd be very careful if I were her" Ethan said to himself. "If Stephanie loses this time, that's the end of her soul. But the skeletons means this is still her HQ. Better yet, Sarah, Benny, Rory and Erica too. Benny and Rory are _safe_ enough for now . . . if you call being turned into a zombie bellhop and an action figure safe! But what the heck has she done to Sarah? I _only_ know Stephanie's not going to try and kill her."

Ethan covered his mouth with his hand; he had to suppress the angry growl and the snarl that went with his anger at the treatment of his friends.

Ethan looked toward the awning at the front of the hotel.

"The Challenger's back" said Ethan. "And in one piece?"

Ethan couldn't account for that, until he recalled that Jane had once tried to use a fixing spell to repair her _Debbie Dazzle_. Obviously, Jesse had used the right spell to fix the car! Jesse wasn't a good enough mechanic (or a mechanic at all!) to fix a 21st century Challenger with 1956 parts.

Watching the skeletons, Ethan's mind wandered to the adventure with _Debbie Dazzle_. It had been one of the wackier ones; yet there was a horror in seeing your parents reduced to wooden dolls. Ethan tried to reason out why Jesse didn't have to continue looking to steal life.

Ethan concluded (correctly) that Jesse's spell was, as Stephanie said, similar but different. Jesse had been a real person, and Stephanie had stolen Rory's life to restore Jesse's. _One for one, but unreversed it would be a permanent exchange_. In a way, Ethan realized with another grimace, the man was still a type of vampire.

"I'm not going to risk going past the skeletons" said Ethan musingly. "I . . . don't think I'll risk my plan on the skeletons. I'll wait them out."

* * *

Ethan stayed behind the tree as he watched the skeletons clatter away to the side of the hotel. It was obvious they were making a slow circuit of the building. Ethan knew how to do the calculation to the minute, with the right observations. But he didn't have the time for correct observations; nor was he holding a writing pad or tablet. So Ethan just guessed the skeletons would be ten or fifteen minutes marching around the hotel.

"If they don't hear me" said Ethan.

So Ethan ran down to the hotel, awkwardly enough. You had to be very cool to be able to run carrying a suitcase and look cool, and sadly Ethan didn't make that grade.

Ethan stalled by the Challenger, the trunk of which had been filled by several suitcases. Several, Ethan could see (or smell) at a glance were crocodile skin. As for Team Sabre's plus Erica's "stuff", it had been roughly tossed by Jesse (or someone or something ordered around by him) their backpacks and suitcases tossed in a pile against the wall of the hotel.

Ethan couldn't help but growl. Which, naturally, made him feel more irritated. Ethan quickly stuffed his backpack in his suitcase. He decided he's next save what he knew was the most important thing the teens had there; their smartphones.

The smartphones were easy to find; they had been separated from the rest of the luggage.

"Jesse must have tried to search them" Ethan thought angrily, as he locked his suitcase. "It's just good they're all password protected. Even Rory has that much sense! I don't know why Jesse just didn't order Benny to give up his password. Maybe _Jack the Zombie Bellhop_ doesn't remember it. And here's the zombies . . . . and here goes my plan. _Plan Full Service Resort_."

This was a gamble. Ethan went casually up to the door, which was now guarded by a burly zombie doorman dressed, like Benny, in red suit and strapped cap. The doorman silently opened the door.

"Front desk is straight ahead through the lobby" the doorman croaked with difficulty, as if a word hadn't left his lips for a century.

Which, Ethan thought, was probably more true than he liked to think.

"Thanks" said Ethan, adding quietly to himself. "Stephanie made the zombies hotel staff. So they _are hotel staff_. As long as I'm a _guest_ , I don't have anything to fear from them. As long as I don't run into Jesse or Stephanie, I can save Benny and try to find out what happened to Sarah . . . and Erica. And somehow bring Rory back to life."

Ethan walked determinedly to the art deco front lobby, and the shiny steamlined modern front desk. It was still very well polished, as a zombie maid, the thin young woman he had seen before, was busy cleaning. Ethan knew that it was _only_ the young woman's _stolen_ body and not her soul in front of him, but it came to mind how unfair it was that the dead girl should have to clean a ghost hotel for nonexistent guests.

Ethan had to allow his eyes to pop in surprise; he was so taken aback as he entered the room and looked to the front desk . . . across the shiny marble, glass, chrome and mahogany room.

There was the very old, thin man with the handlebar mustache, standing silently at the centre of the desk. But off to the side was the black-eyeballed bellboy Benny again, silent and still as a statue. Frozen immobile in a salute.

Ethan surprise faded to a gloomy enough look, but Benny wasn't who he was to talk to. Not yet. Ethan walked right in front of the old man. The old man said nothing. He didn't move a fraction of an inch.

Ethan knew what he had to do now. Using his sleeve, he rang the silver bell on the front desk.

"WWWWW-elcome to the Leeblaine Hotel" said the old man, revving up as he spoke. "Do you have a reservation?"

"No" said Ethan truthfully. "I took the railroad into town this morning, and was hoping for a room."

"That's too bad" said the old man. "We're nearly full up. Booked in fact."

Ethan couldn't help but look pointedly around the spookily empty lobby in response, but the zombie at the desk didn't notice.

Ethan pulled out the wallet, and gave a toothy grin.

"Money's not a problem."

"Well, I said we're _nearly_ full up" said the old man, with new emphasis on _nearly_. "There's a room available on the fourth floor. It's at the front of the hotel. Not a view of the lake, but a pleasant view of the lawns and gardens. But because this is the peak season, you will have to pay our regular rate of $25.00 a night. _American Plan_."

"That includes meals?" said Ethan.

"Yes, of course' said the old zombie. "I would even say it's a steal."

It sure was. Ethan was pleased to be at the front of the hotel, as he knew the Royal Suite and Jesse's suite faced the lake. And the last thing he wanted was to have either take him by surprise.

"You have no idea, sir" said Ethan politely. "Two nights. I forgot you were selling 1956 rates."

"What other kinds of rates would we have?" asked the zombie. "But we can give you a 10% discount if you'll pay upfront."

"I don't know" Ethan admitted, as he handed over fifty dollars, and received a five dollar bill in change.

"Would you care to have a bellboy take your suitcase to your room?" asked the old man, after he gave Ethan a hand-written receipt.

"Yes" said Ethan simply.

The old man gave a quick ring of the silver bell, and Benny came to life again.

"Room 403" ordered the old man.

"Sounds like an HTTP error?" Ethan joked.

But the joke fell on deaf, zombie ears.

"I'm Jack" said Benny, again pointing out his name-tag. "I'll take your suitcase to your room."

The two boys went to the nearest elevator.

"I'm happy to say we have a new elevator operator" "Jack" announced.

Ethan didn't reply, but swallowed down a growl.

The elevator operator was the snowmobiler, who had so lately been lying dead on the trail. A black-eyeballed zombie like the rest.

"Fourth floor" Benny ordered.

"Where did you get him?" asked Ethan, finally.

"Who?"

"The elevator operator."

"Mr. Black obtained him for us this morning" said Jack. "At the very edge of our lands. Mr. Black was hunting."

"What?" asked Ethan.

"A werewolf, but it left town" said Jack nonchalantly, as if all bellhops in the real 1956 had regularly discussed hotel guests hunting werewolfs. "It probably crossed the trestle over the lake and went into Minnesota. Or maybe it was hit by a train."

"Fourth floor" said the snowmobiler.

* * *

Ethan followed Benny out of the elevator, down the hall and to his door, which Benny courteously unlocked. The room was comfortable enough, with two high beds, a few heavy dressers, a desk, a table and a couple hefty chairs. Between two heavy curtains, Ethan could see the front lawn of the hotel beneath the dull mist.

Benny dropped Ethan's suitcase, gave a smart salute with his right hand and put his left hand out for a tip.

"Could you close the door for a minute . . . Jack?" asked Ethan, flinching a little at the unnaturalness of using Benny's hated middle name.

"Yes, sir" said Benny, with another salute.

Benny stepped outside the room, and prepared to close the door carefully behind him.

"No, you need to stay on the inside" said Ethan.

"Yes, sir"

"And quit saluting!"

"Yes, sir"

"Listen to this, Jack!"

Ethan played the "knockout" spell Benny had recorded to use against an evil-version of himself. As it had once cured Benny of Vice Principal Stern's spell, he hoped it would get his best friend's mind back.

Benny fell against the door, slamming it shut with his weight, and collapsed to the floor with a thud. But almost instantly Benny jumped to his feet.

"Beg your pardon, sir!" he said, again saluting to Ethan's great annoyance.

"Are you a bellhop or the world's best trained soldier?" Ethan complained.

"We at the Leeblaine Hotel congratulate ourselves on our top-notch service" Benny said, matter-of-factly.

Without another word, Ethan used the prerecorded spell Evelyn Weir had made. The one intended to de-zombify Benny once Stephanie had been defeated for once and for all. Ethan hoped _this_ would at least get rid of the bellhop spell.

"And what was that sir! Ugh! Excuse me sir!"

Jack the bellboy made a hasty exit to the washroom.

"I don't get how a guy who eats _Reese's Pieces_ pizza can have such a weak stomach" Ethan observed wryly.

Benny returned in a few minutes, looking perplexed.

"I don't know what came over me, sir" he said. "I haven't thrown up since I became a zombie. It must have been some bad brains."

"So you know you're a zombie now?" asked Ethan, eagerly.

Ethan felt sure that the spell had at last worked.

"Of course I am" said Benny. "All the best hotels hire zombies for their staff."

"I think this may take awhile" said Ethan, his mouth agape at this remark. He staggered to sit on the chair at the writing desk. "What . . . why do they . . . hire zombies?"

"Because we're tireless, efficient and dedicated servants" Benny said. "But sir, it is sad, you know, now that I think of it."

"Why?" asked Ethan.

"Well, I think I died when I was only sixteen years old" said Benny. "And Jack Weir was a talented kid. I know I was."

"You never died" said Ethan firmly.

"Oh, yes I did, sir" said Benny. "How do you explain my being a zombie?"

"Evil spell" said Ethan impatiently. "You're not a zombie who's an enslaved corpse. You're alive and been . . . temporarily . . . turned into one of the walking dead. The old school walking dead. Remember, the uncool old school zombie slaves who aren't even contagious?"

"No, that can't be it, sir" said Benny. "I'm as dead as a doornail. Probably in a mining accident."

"Benny, the only mining accident you ever had was playing _Big Pine Death Mine_ " Ethan said caustically.

"The name is Jack, sir" added Benny reflectively. "J-A-C-K, Jack."

"Do you remember anything about your life before you were a zombie?" asked Ethan. " _Jack?_ "

"Well, sir" tried Benny, taking off his cap to scratch his head. "I . . . uh . . . think so, sir. I had a grandmother. I had a father who travelled a lot. My mother lived somewhere else, with _her_ mother in a city. I had a girlfriend, really short, and emotional . . . Della was her name . . . she loved her pet dog. It had a rather silly name . . . not Della but her dog. Now, speaking of dogs, sir. My best friend lived next door. I don't think he was that short blond teenager with a Labrador Retriever . . . ."

"The short blond guy wasn't your best friend" said Ethan. "He was only your second-to-best friend, wasn't even that short anymore, and he didn't live next door.

"I remember, sir" said Benny. "A serious, stiff boy who looked like you, except his incisors weren't so large."

"Who's serious and stiff?" asked Ethan, petulantly, with a growl. "No way Benn . . . Jack! Just because I was careful? Just because I liked to plan ahead?"

"No, sir. Not you. I was talking about my best friend when I was a human being, sir" said Benny, saluting again. "Almost as fixed as one of us zombies. Well, for a human being. But you know how you _people_ are!"

There was an awkward moment's silence.

"Is that all you can remember?" asked Ethan.

"There's little point, sir" said Benny, as he strapped his cap back on his head. "I _am_ dead. This is old news. Probably sixty or a hundred years ago now, for all I can remember. But, I'm likely needed at the front desk. This is the height of the 1956 season, you know."

"You're a little late for that" said Ethan sarcastically.

Ethan looked at the desk in front of him. There was a pad of paper on it. An idea struck him.

"Before you go, Jack, can you solve a problem that's been bothering me. I'm a mathlete, but I can't seem to work this problem out."

"I can try, sir" said Benny.

Ethan had written out _Differentiate y=(3x + 1) squared._

Benny looked at the problem for a moment.

"This is easy, sir!" Jack said. "Simple differential calculus. The chain rule applies here. You know, sir, the formula to compute the derivative of a composite function. I can solve it in three lines. There, _6 (3x+1)_ is your solution. And . . . _it clears the head_.

Benny looked up at Ethan, down at the problem, and suddenly took his two hands and tried to shake something out of head.

"Thank you, sir" Benny said finally. "I know who you are, Ethan Phillip Morgan. And we are _the two mathletes in Grade 11_ at Whitechapel High School who know the chain rule and have some knowledge of differential calculus. And you are right, sir, about me being alive. And the best hotels definitely do not hire zombies as bellboys."

"Dude, Benny, you're back" said Ethan excitedly.

Ethan observed that Benny's face flinched a few times, but his features remained atypically deadpan. Still, Ethan and Benny shook hands, Roman-style. Or _Battlestar Galactica_ style.

"Now, where's Sarah?" asked Ethan. "What does Stephanie have her doing? And Rory, is he okay? And . . . there's Erica?"

"Ethan . . ., sir" said Benny quietly. "They're all topnotch . . . ."

"Topnotch?" repeated Ethan quizzically. "And what the _heck_ do you mean by _Ethan, sir?"_

"Under the circumstance, sir" Benny said, "your friends . . . our friends, I should say, will be safe for the next three or four hours at least. But I need to tell you something important."

"What?" asked Ethan.

Benny walked to the mirror, and looked curiously at his uniform, hat and tag.

"I have my memory back and most of my free will" said Benny. "But you didn't break the spell turning me into the hotel bellboy. I need to wear this uniform, this hat, and _like_ it. I'm at work as a bellboy until the spell is broken. I have to act like a bellboy. You can not even call me by my first name. It has to be Jack, sir. Otherwise, it's like nails scraping on a blackboard. It's torture, sir. Everything!"

Benny said this in an even, almost monotonous voice, But after a struggle with himself all he could do was shrug in a helpless-looking way.

"I know what it's like to not be myself" said Ethan, who again looked surprise. "But it's more . . . psychological torture being the bellboy instead of a werewolf."

"It is still torture sir, but we will break it yet" said Benny, as he turned away from his reflection. "Sir, I can't even remember why the real me hates this uniform!"

"You'll help me?" asked Ethan. "You _can help me_."

"Of course, I will" said Benny. He paused, and tried to nod energetically. "We're best friends. Besides, you're a guest of the hotel. I am serving you . . . in a way. But there's another thing."

"What?"

"I have to answer the silver bell in the lobby whenever the desk clerk calls me down" said Benny. "I hear it from the entire hotel. And sooner or later, Jesse will send for me. Stephanie gave me to him as his servant. So, I can hear him whenever he shouts my name. But I won't tell him a thing, sir. I can promise you that."

"Why did Stephanie give you to _Jesse_?" spat Ethan.

"Because her spell on Sarah didn't work as well as expected" said Benny. "However . . . ."

" _The Frack!_ " Ethan exclaimed as he jumped up, as his eyes glowed yellow.

"Well, you see, sir. It happened after you were thrown out the window and turned into a werewolf. I was already immobile counterfeit zombie bellboy and Rory reduced to an action figure. Stephanie had turned her attention to Erica . . . ."


	44. Four Days

**FOUR DAYS**

It was hard for Ethan not to growl. It was especially hard for Ethan not to growl when he heard how Jesse had turned Benny and Sarah into his personal servants.

Ethan made do with covering his mouth with his hand.

Benny's main job at the hotel was run errands for the zombie cook in the kitchen and take up room service. It was lucky the zombies were the old-school non-contagious type, as the chef frequently tasted her cooking using the same large wooden spoon she used to mix all and sundry.

"Talk about a food safety issue" laughed Ethan, hollowly.

"Good one, sir."

For the first few days, Benny was constantly in Jesse's suite; Benny only occasionally saw Stephanie. When he wasn't needed, he froze into the statue-like state Ethan had found him in at the front desk.

Jesse hadn't much wish to be too close to Stephanie. He didn't seem to much like her or trust her. In fact, Jesse spoke derisively about Stephanie's cheerleading obsession. The fact that the hypnotized Sarah and the zombified Benny were the only ones who could hear him didn't dissuade the recalled-to-life Jesse.

Jesse had taken a large corner suite at the foot of one of the towers, as distant from the Royal Suite you could get while keeping a view of the lake. Jesse visited her once or twice a day, usually to share a meal, but that was all. The second night, Benny reported, he had spent hours in the suite with Stephanie. Jesse had returned angry, and the following day he had gone "werewolf hunting".

"Only he wasn't hunting, sir" said Benny. "That's obvious now. He was looking for potion ingredients."

"For what?" asked Ethan.

"He was looking for slugs" said Benny. Have you noticed there's no animals in this town? Not even an insect?"

"Nothing _living_ but the plants" said Ethan through gritted teeth.

"Eerie, isn't it?" said Benny. "Now, sir, keep calm with what I'm going to tell you next."

Benny awkwardly sat across from Ethan.

"I'm not supposed to sit down" Benny explained. "It's hard. You know, duuuuuuude, _that's a hard word to say, it's also nails scratching on a blackboard_. But don't wolf out on me, sir! When I tell you what Jesse's trying to do."

"I promise" said Ethan. "On my honour as a Jedi."

"Jesse was looking for slugs, it's a main ingredient in the love potion I made almost two years ago now" said Benny trying to look as sympathetic as a guy could look without pupils in his eyes. "When Sarah was put under a spell, Jesse intended her to . . . _canoodle with him_. You alright, Ethan? You look as if you could literally chew steel?"

Ethan nodded tensely. He had promised to keep calm, and he did. Although he couldn't keep his eyes from glowing yellow.

"But it didn't work that way" said Benny hurriedly. "Every time he tried to touch her, she beat him up. Karate chopped him, tossed him. He seemed afraid to use his magic on her, in case he broke the spell."

Ethan broke into a grin. For a moment.

"But the love potion?"

"Obviously, sir, Jesse didn't care if Sarah hated him even more after it wore off" Benny added. "But he couldn't get all the ingredients. It's winter outside this evil pocket dimension. And Jesse's obliged to stay here for the next few weeks. So the young gentleman's very bored."

" _Young . . . gentleman! Benny . . . Jack? Seriously!"_

"Sorry, sir. But Jesse Black is a guest of the hotel. And he's technically in a sixteen-year-old body."

"A stolen one" Ethan corrected. "But what's Jesse up to with Sarah?"

"Yesterday afternoon, he sent me down to the lobby to stand there. Jesse said he couldn't work with me standing over him. He's taking Sarah to see movies in the screening room today . . . ."

"What movies?" said Ethan. " _They're actually going on a date inside the hotel?_ "

"1956 movies. Jesse seems to have this idea to trick her into liking him" said Benny. "Sarah has just enough of her personality that he thinks he can influence her. But I can't say how it's been going. I've just been standing around, bringing things. Last thing I did was make popcorn at the concession stand outside the theatre. But Jesse didn't like my work, sir, so I was replaced with another of the zombies."

"Why not?" asked Ethan.

Benny tried but failed to smile. But he managed to look somewhat proud of himself.

"I put garlic butter on the popcorn. It must have been something deep seated."

Ethan gave a toothy grin in spite of himself.

"What about Rory?"

"Still an action figure in Stephanie's room" Benny said. "The last time I was there, he said _Whazzzzz_ up one too many times so she threw him into a drawer, in the end table near the window. At least he's safe, sir."

"If you call being turned into an action figure safe" said Ethan wryly.

Benny then told him about Erica, and Stephanie having turned her into a particularly cheerful cheerleader. This didn't bother Ethan too much.

"I don't want her to be under a spell, dude" Ethan told Benny. "But . . . ."

"Call me Jack, sir. J-A-C-K"

"Jack" said Ethan impatiently. "But being hypnotized into being a cheerleader is the lesser of the five evils."

"Until she's sacrificed to the devil, sir" Benny said.

" _WHAT!_ "

Benny explained to Ethan's shock the whole scheme.

"Her soul-stealing pentagram" Ethan remembered. "Like last time."

"I think that's why Stephanie has been guarding her from Jesse" said Benny. "Stephanie wants Erica unattached for the duration of her stay."

"Let me guess" said Ethan angrily. "Jesse couldn't _canoodle with_ Sarah, so he wants to _canoodle_ with Erica. Using her as Sarah's substitute. Again. Just like the first time! Is there anything that guy has ever done that was right?"

"No sir, I don't believe so. Are we going to go to the theatre to rescue Sarah now?"

Ethan grimaced. In fact, he gave a snarl.

Ethan didn't want Jesse in the same theatre as Sarah. Of course, Ethan knew Sarah un-spellbound, would have far more to say about it than he did. But Ethan's plans hadn't yet accounted for disenchanting her. And, _technically_ Sarah was safe as long as Jesse was "only" planning to date her. _At least for now_.

"No, we have to creep up on Stephanie or Jesse. Or else I'm prowling the woods again as a werewolf and you're the super-obedient bellboy" said Ethan caustically.

"But, sir, how did you get back here in the first place?"

Ethan explained. It was unsettling to do, because Benny sat like a statute only forcing himself to nod once in a while. Ethan expected funny, maybe annoying comments from time to time. But for his best buddy to sit still was weird.

Sure, Benny could be quiet or polite _if he wanted to_. Mostly around parents. But now, to Ethan, it was as if Benny was tranquillized

Suddenly, Benny stood up as straight as a ramrod and gave a salute. So fast, Ethan too jumped in surprise.

"Stephanie called down to the front desk, and the clerk is ringing the bell" Benny said dully.

"You're still . . . you?" asked Ethan. "Jack . . . Benny!"

"It has to be Jack, J-A-C-K" Benny replied. "But I'm still me. As soon as I'm free, I"m going to report back here."

"Benny . . . Jack . . . try to get Astronaut Rory" said Ethan. "Dude . . . Jack . . . I'm know I how to get rid of Jesse. Stephanie too."

Benny's deadpan face showed the briefest sign of interest, but it quickly passed.

"Will do, sir. But take these!"

Benny had a money-belt on. He removed several silver dimes and put them on the table.

"In case they get you, you can undo the curse, sir! At least partially."

With that, Benny rushed out. Almost frantic to reach the Royal Suite.

* * *

Ethan closed the door after Benny. It was depressing to see his best friend enslaved like that, although he now saw hope that final victory might be in their grasp.

"Facing Stephanie's going to hurt" muttered Ethan to himself, after a few minutes thought.

Ethan looked down at the dimes. Ethan went and retrieved a facecloth from the washroom and carefully tied the dimes inside, without touching them direct. Ethan fought an attack of fatigue as he went about his work. Ethan put the tied-up dimes in his jacket pocket. It took several minutes for him to shake the silver-induced weariness from his head.

The weariness was replaced with a restlessness from being alone in a closed-up room in an empty hotel.

Ethan looked around. His eyes rested on the night-table and its one drawer. Ethan remembered the abandoned church in town. So, he wondered.

Ethan walked over and opened the drawer. He wasn't surprised to see the drawer empty. But it creeped him out all the same.


	45. The Domino Theory

**THE DOMINO THEORY**

Benny walked up the stairs to the fourth floor. Bellboys weren't supposed to use the elevators unless they were serving a guest. He was a bellboy . . . a bellboy . . . a bellboy.

In a _nifty_ double-breasted red uniform with shiny brass buttons and a matching strap-on cap. With starched white shirt and black silk tie carefully tied in a double-Windsor knot.

It was a strange echo that worked through Benny's mind. As strong a noise as a hammer hitting an anvil. YOU'RE . . . A . . . BELLBOY . . . JACK . . . _at the LEEBLAINE HOTEL!_ YOU'RE . . . A . . . BELLBOY . . . JACK . . . _at the LEEBLAINE HOTEL!_

Benny wished he could forget that. He hated being bewitched like this! But he couldn't show it, and although he had his memory back and freedom of action, he had to do everything as if he loved being a bellboy, was a bellboy since he was born, and being a _particularly stuck-up_ bellboy was the entirety of his life's ambition.

And because Benny had stolen from a hotel guest, and the one staying in the Royal Suite at that, the anvil chorus of " _You're a bellboy Jack_ " kept playing in his head.

But, with an effort, Benny was able to _genuinely_ look proud of himself. He had heard some bad news, but on other hand this news meant Stephanie was preoccupied for several hours. It seemed to Benny that Stephanie was the main boss, and, like a video game boss, you faced her last. This kept her out of the way until then. She'd be locking _herself up_ in the hotel's main ballroom for the day.

* * *

Ethan had been restlessly opening and closing drawers while Benny was gone. They drawers in Room 407 were mostly empty. All Ethan found was an old school coffee maker, a kettle and a tin of tea, a deck of cards, and some dominoes. Ethan couldn't really "play" dominoes, not by himself. So Ethan set them up to knock them over. Ethan set up the dominoes on the sitting table, thinking of past adventures.

By the time Benny finally knocked, Ethan was examining his incisors in the mirror, which looked like short fangs.

"I think I'm right and Benny was wrong. All he ever did was ask _Ask Google_ " Ethan muttered, before closing his mouth. "Come in Benny . . . Jack."

Benny went in the door, and stood just within saluting. Ethan couldn't help but be reminded of a vampire being stopped just _without_ the door.

"At ease, Jack" said Ethan ironically.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't make fun, sir" said Benny. "This isn't easy."

"I'd hate to be a bellboy in this place" Ethan agreed.

"Never mind. I have him, sir" said Benny.

"Where?" asked Ethan.

Benny removed his cap, and put Astronaut Rory on the table next to the dominoes.

"You put him in your hat?" asked Ethan incredulously.

"Call me Rorster" said Rory.

"Only because you're an action figure" Ethan told the plastic figure awkwardly. "Why did you carry him in your cap . . . Jack?"

Benny had already replaced his chin strap. He managed a sigh of relief, as the pounding in his head finally stopped

"I had to hide him, sir. I accompanied Stephanie and Erica to the main ballroom. And served their lunch."

"Why?"

"It's lunchtime. Would you like me to go to the kitchen and fetch you something, sir? Our cook has moose steak on the menu."

"Benny, FOCUS!" said Ethan impatiently . . . and with a embarrassed grimace.

"It's Jack, sir. J-A-C-K."

"Why are Stephanie and Erica going to the ballroom!" Ethan exclaimed.

"Oh!"

Benny shook his head, and sat down.

"Ethan, we only have until midnight to save Erica. Stephanie can't stand being with Jesse and she's somehow brought up the time for her evil sacrifice."

Benny managed a look of disgust that equalled Ethan's current gaping look of horror.

"It has something to do with the curtains being heavy and the ballroom being on the ground floor facing to the west" Benny added. "She called in several of the skeletons to move the furniture, and she's sent someone for red paint."

"I bet that room is huge" said Ethan, looking around at the comfortable but claustophobic Room 407. "So maybe she can cheat with a larger pentagram? Just like tuning in a radio with a powerful antenna. It's easier to tune into the channel you like."

"I don't know, sir" said Benny. "Nonetheless, the answer might be here."

Benny unbuttoned his red jacket showing a stiffly-starched white dress shirt and black tie in a Windsor knot. From under the jacket he removed the battered old spell book his grandmother had given him over two years before. He carefully re-buttoned the brass buttons up to his collar.

"Dude" said Ethan, clapping Benny on the shoulder. "You've got the book back."

"Jack" Benny corrected. "J-A-C-K."

"Jack" said Ethan irritably.

"I'm unable to do anything with it, sir" said Benny. "No magical powers. And I regret to say that Stephanie does have a witches's spell book."

"That black book you were talking about, the one written in blood?" asked Ethan.

"I would have looked in it" said Benny.

"For what?"

"The master reversal potion"

Ethan looked at Benny.

"The one that cured me of being a werewolf the first time? The one that cures _everything_ , even vampires?"

"Yes, sir" said Benny. "It may be in there. There's only one problem. Grandma told me never to even try to look in a witch's spellbook."

"Serious black magic?" Ethan guessed.

"No" said Benny. "You sell your soul when you look in one of those books."

" _Automatically_?" asked Ethan, surprised.

"I think you have to make a contract with the book" said Benny. "Very much like a security code, sir. Or signing before reading. In your blood. Of course, Grandma didn't know for sure. Nobody does who hasn't made a deal with Old Scratch."

"Forget it . . . Jack" said Ethan, who thought that a book that should definitely _be burnt_. "I don't even think a devil's spell book would have a master reversal spell. It's too cool . . . _too good_ a thing to know and definitely not black magic."

"Besides, sir" added Benny. "Our friends have already been cured. Of vampirism that is. And for the next few years, Whitechapel remains a vampire-cure in and of itself."

"That's true" Ethan said, cheering up. "I've been thinking B. . . guys."

"Rory can't hear you" said Benny. "See, sir"

Benny tapped Rory on the head.

" _Whazzzzzzzzzzz up"_ Rory said.

"I know that, _Jack_ " said Ethan, looking at the action figure of his second-to-best friend. "I just felt like being . . . courteous. And don't do it again. It gives me the creeps."

"Will do, sir" said Benny, standing up with a salute.

"At ease, Jack" Ethan said, suppressing a growl.

When Benny had sit stiffly in his chair, Ethan went on.

"Sometimes, our cases are like dominoes" Ethan said eagerly. "It takes one step, one big reveal, and everything falls into place. One domino after another Our villain . . . bad guy . . . supernatural enemy . . . goes down after one big reveal. Think of our first case; the attack of the vampire pizza boy, making friends with Sarah, and Rory _innocently_ spilling Jesse's plans."

"That's three falling dominoes, sir."

"Or I have one vision that's a breakthrough" Ethan went on, petulantly. "The vampire nurses and the blood drive. Or events just start falling our way, when we find the key, the plan. Like having _the Rorster,_ when he was possessed by an evil mask, turning you into a combo luchador and wizard."

"Removing the evil mask with my super-powered lightning hands" observed Benny, with little emotion.

"Or the king gremlin using his brainwashing powers on our subconscious minds to sleep-attack each other. His plan fell apart like dominoes. All because of Rory's dog. Krypto woke Rory, Rory woke Sarah, Sarah woke you."

"As we took care of the gremlin, sir, you had a completely pointless duel-to-the-death with Erica" said Benny. "Not that you could harm each other. Erica was human by that time and she wasn't so vulnerable to the U.V. lightsabre. Nor could she do more with her teeth than give you a hicky. Which, of course, she did."

"That's not important" said Ethan embarrassedly. "I mean that I'm the first domino this time."

"If you say so, sir."

"You know what I mean, dude!"

"Jack. J-A-C-K"

" _Jack_. I'm human . . . in human form and myself again. You're . . . kinda . . . yourself again. We can rescue the others."

Ethan tried to give Benny a high-five, but Benny just watched Ethan make the gesture.

"I can't, sir" Benny explained, after shaking the cobwebs from his mind and remember what _exactly_ a high-five was. "They didn't have high-fives in 1956. It's a hand shake or nothing."

Ethan obliged with the hand shake. After that, Ethan proved his "domino theory" by knocking down the first dominoes and the two boys watched in satisfaction as they fell perfectly. Benny, unfortunately, struggled so much as to smile.

"I think we need to go after Stephanie first" said Ethan. "I'd sooner go and save Sarah from Jesse, but Erica's in the greatest danger now. Besides, the moment we take away Stephanie's powers, we can get ours back. We can free Erica, and the three of us can fight Jesse."

"On the contrary, it's Jesse we must fight first" said Benny. "Begging your pardon."

"What did you do?" asked Ethan perplexed. "Oh, I get it. You're the bellboy, I'm the guest, and you're disagreeing with me on something important. You want to argue but can't? Sorry, Jack. Um . . . _permission to speak freely?_ "

Ethan was unimpressed by Benny's theory that as Stephanie was the most important "boss", she was the one they needed to face last. Ethan thought the reasoning was downright stupid.

"We're not even sure Stephanie's the most dangerous" Ethan said. "Jesse's upgraded to spellmaster and, I'm sure the guy is smarter than Stephanie. He has an ego the size of the death star, but he's dangerous."

"You're contradicting yourself" said Benny. "If you think Jesse's the most dangerous, by your reasoning we should see to Stephanie first. And how, sir, are we going to deal with her? You know my grandmother said we had to de-power her before we undid the spells. We have nothing but the smart phones to make it work. By the way, Ethan. Where is my phone?"

"They didn't have them in 1956 either" Ethan joked, but opened his briefcase after z look at Benny's impassive face.

Benny neatly took the phone, and again removed his cap. He careful placed the phone in the lining of his cap, and put the cap, chin-strap and all, back on his head.

Benny ignored Ethan's stunned expression.

"And you may not know this, sir. But Stephanie will have her own magical defences now. To make it work, you need to de-power her defences, _then_ take away her powers and then undo the spells."

" _I know that_ " Ethan growled. "That's why we're going to have Jack the hotel bellboy pretend to give her a message from Jesse. To distract her."

"What about her having _judged_ us?"

"Then pretend I'm an appeals judge" Ethan retorted. "Benny . . . Jack, she's no more a judge than us."

"But what will you do, sir?"

"There was something Jesse said to me in the woods, the night of the full moon" Ethan replied. "It made me think . . . ."

Benny managed a look of genuine surprise as Ethan detailed his plan.

"Duuuude" Benny stammered, as Benny had said he was constrained in what words he could used. "You would do that . . . sir?"

"I think it would work. It'll make me _puke_ , but it should work."

"What about Jesse?" asked Benny.

Ethan looked to Astronaut Rory.

"Jesse's stolen his life force. But Rory's soul is still trapped in this action figure. You've never seen an innocent soul. It's like a . . . slowly travelling beam of light. The souls of Sarah's Dusker friends destroyed Jesse by just travelling through him."

"You are depending on Rory to destroy Jesse?" said Benny. "And then _just reflexively_ restore his body? Count me sceptical, sir"

"You release Rory's soul, that'll be the end of Spellmaster Jesse" said Ethan confidently. "It may not be technically Rory's body, but it's his life-force Jesse's stolen. And it doesn't matter what _fubrecarb_ Stephanie gave us about a judgement. _She may think she has that right, but she didn't do anything but put curses on us and call them judgements_. Jesse's been reanimated into a stolen body. He'd be destroyed by Rory. _Even the Rorster!_ I've seen what souls can do. And not just to vampires. I've seen souls pull away Coach Ed into something called the locker of the night. I told you about that."

"I know, sir. But you know sir, as a spellmaster myself, I had a spell to knock the soul out of someone's body. Maybe you should leave it to me."

"You told me all about it, when Doug Falconheart was in town" Ethan said dismissively. "But we don't even know you if you could work that spell on Jesse. And if we did it that way, we'd still have to take care of Stephanie first."

"There is one incontrovertible reason why we should deal with Jesse first."

"Sarah?" said Ethan. "I mentioned her."

"No, sir" said Benny. "But . . . did I place my smart phone in my cap?"

"Yeah . . . Jack"

"Well, there isn't anything I can do about it now" Benny said, with the _shadow_ of a disgusted look on his face. "However, consider this Ethan! So long as Stephanie's preoccupied with her spells, she's safely out the way in the ballroom with Erica and a few right-hand zombies and skeletons. We needn't worry about a team-up."

There was a moment's pause.

"You're right" said Ethan. "Jesse first."

"Besides, sir. You'd sooner rescue Sarah before Erica. I know we want to rescue both, but we know who you like more. But about Rory? How will you release him from the plastic astronaut suit."

"He's an action figure" said Ethan. "His arms are made to pull off. It might hurt him a little after, but when he's flesh and blood again he should automatically return in one piece."

"Should, sir?" said Benny.

"There's a spell to re-attach his arm in your book" said Ethan bluntly. "It's either risk that or he spends the rest of his life as a plastic astronaut. I know the Rorster, I knew he dreamed of being an astronaut . . . but not a toy one."

" _Awesome_ " said Rory, as Ethan put him into the briefcase.

"I hope that's a good sign" Ethan said.

"Then I'll guide you down to the movie theatre, sir" said Benny. "It's in the basement. Since I'm with a guest, that means I . . . _we_ . . . can take the elevator."

Ethan shrugged, and with one last look at Room 407, followed Benny out and closed the door behind him.


	46. You Only Die Thrice

**You Only Die Thrice**

Ethan and Benny arrived in the basement, courtesy of the zombie-snowmobiler elevator operator.

Ethan gave a momentary thought to how _weird and desperate_ things were, if he was riding down a elevator run by a "zombie-snowmobiler elevator operator". With Benny stuck as a zombie bellboy. And Rory reduced to be an action figure dressed in a copy of his NASA spacesuit.

Ethan was in a suit _and tie and briefcase_ , looking well into his early-twenties due to the five o'clock shadow on his face. Although it was still the early afternoon.

Yes, things were both weird and desperate. But this should be, at long last, the time when he could _fight back_.

* * *

Being in the basement wasn't the greatest feeling, given the hotel shouldn't have been there. It reminded Benny of finding the lucifractor next to the old elevator in the abandoned hotel back in Whitechapel.

But this basement had been preternaturally repaired. The corridor was wide, and laid with a red carpet. Neatly lettered signs pointed left to the back way to the swimming pool, an exit, and the movie theatre. A neatly lettered sign pointed right and advised no admittance, employees only.

"That's the way to the boiler room and laundries, sir" said Benny helpfully.

"We didn't come here to do the laundry" joked Ethan.

"That's funny, sir" said Benny.

The two of them (the three, if you counted Astronaut Rory stashed in the briefcase) walked down the hall, passed several doors and made a left following the sign pointing to the movie theatre. Along this hall were movie posters, as in a modern theatre. Movies like _Around the World in Eighty Days_ were popular that year. So were a few _Three Stooges_ shorts advertized.

Ethan looked towards _Forbidden Planet_ poster, nostalgically remembering watching the movie with Sarah just last summer. The poster itself was a lie, showing a menacing robot carrying a beautiful girl. The robot was a helpful servant of the girl and her father, and not the least bit malicious.

Through the double doors at the end, led to a concession area where a grim teen zombie in a uniform like Benny's stood on guard near the popcorn.

His skin was scalded red in several places.

"Don't let his appearance fool you. He was a good _duuuuuude_ , but he died a hundred years ago in a railroad accident" Benny told Ethan casually. "Soul's long moved on. But I don't know why Mr. Black didn't dig up a girl for the job though."

"Dig up is the right word for it" said Ethan dryly. "Your great-grandfather was a rail conductor, wasn't he?"

Benny nodded.

"No, but Pete here was a fireman. He was the guy shovelling the coal into the engine."

Ethan went to the double doors on the other end of the theatre, and put his ear against it. He heard the movie playing, and, to his surprise, _Forbidden Planet_ was playing. It didn't make sense that _Jesse_ would choose the movie to show Sarah.

"This is the big scene of the movie. Dr. Morbius is sacrificing himself to save his daughter and Commander Adams from the creature of his Id created by the Krell's giant machine" Ethan said quietly, though deep done he wanted to rush in and watch it on the big screen. "Do you think we can go in and confront him?"

"I wouldn't try it, sir" said Benny. "The doors are soundproof . . . to us non were-wolves. But the light from the concession room will shine right in."

"Can you turn off the lights?" Ethan asked the zombie.

The zombie nodded but did nothing else.

"You need to ask him if he will" said Benny deadpan, before adding, "It's easier for you to do it."

" _Will you_ turn off the light!" said Ethan impatiently.

The zombie nodded. But first he pushed a large box of caramel-coated popcorn and root beer into Benny's hands.

"Our caramel corn is made with fresh maple sugar and corn syrup" said the zombie in a rusty monotone.

"Thanks, Pete" said Benny matter-of-factly, clapping his shoulder. "I don't know what else they can do to you, or if you'd even know, but you'd better go."

The zombie nodded, and walked silently away.

"Why don't you have to call him sir?" asked Ethan.

"He's a fellow bellboy" Benny replied.

"Why do you need another bellboy?" Ethan asked incredulously. "There's only two _guests_ in the whole hotel . . . and you can't really call them guests."

"Five, Sir, including you, Sarah and Erica" Benny corrected. "Besides, do you honestly a luxurious resort hotel like the Leeblain would have only _one bellboy?_ "

Ethan looked at Benny incredulously.

Benny struggled with himself a second.

"It hurts me more to be forced to talk like this than for you to listen to me talk like this" Benny admitted. "Sir."

"It's okay . . . Jack" said Ethan, with emphasis.

It seemed as if by calling Benny "Jack" it helped his mental torture the partly-broken spell was putting him through.

Because of their curses, the two boys could see perfectly in the dark. So they made for the door. But before they could enter, a old dial telephone attached to the wall rang.

Ethan growled in surprise. But Benny left the door, and walked straight for the phone.

"Benny!" Ethan exclaimed.

"Jack, sir" Benny corrected. "J-A-C-K, Jack."

"Jack!" said Ethan.

"Movie theatre" said Benny answering the phone. "Jack Weir, Bellboy, speaking."

"Oh, you're back there, aren't you" laughed Stephanie scornfully. "Jack-boy. I knew Jessie wouldn't let you off so easy. Steam-scalded apprentice firemen don't make good stooges. Well, now listen to this geek. I'm telling you, make like you friend Ethan and _fetch_ Jesse over here. I need his advice in preparing the ceremony for tonight, when I sacrifice Erica to the Master. He doesn't see the point in moving up the ceremony, but I won't wait! Tell him that if he helps me with the pentagram today, I might decide to let him leave with Sarah a week early. If he doesn't, I'll send Jesse back to the Master. _I know why he's been making his own zombies and tell him it's not going to work._ "

"Ask her what's not going to work" Ethan told Benny, carefully whispering instead of growling. Ethan had heard every word and his eyes were blazing yellow.

"I don't know, ma'am, what you're talking about?" said Benny obediently.

"Zombies are such idiots" said Stephanie. "Jesse wants control wherever he is. He's not going to take over my hotel, and he'll serve me. And Jesse knows he can steal Rory Ransom Keener's life, but he can't get himself turned into a vampire again to prolong his miserable life. He can't make himself a vampire by putting a curse on _someone else's_ life and soul. No matter how _creative_ that two-time loser tries to get. Remind him he's died twice already. Better yet, just send him to me and I'll give him a piece of mind."

"A piece of your mind, ma'am? Do you have any to spare, ma'am?" asked Benny in an extremely polite voice.

"Tell him" said Stephanie angrily.

She hung up.

"I thought you couldn't insult guests?" Ethan asked curiously.

"She left an opening you could fly the _death star_ through" Benny pointed out. "And I was polite about it. So . . . Asking that question, sir, made up for _a lot_."

"Jesse would have been suspicious" said Ethan musingly. "Stephanie . . . probably not so much."

"There's a reason why Jesse was your nemesis, sir" said Benny. "And not Hottie Ho-tep, no matter what you might have thought of him."

But what it did mean that Rory would have to wait until Jesse went to Stephanie and returned. They couldn't risk alerting Stephanie and facing the two villains at the same time. It also meant Ethan had to wait a half-minute for his glow-in-the-dark yellow eyes to return to their normal deep brown.

* * *

Benny, still carrying the popcorn and root beer, walked down the central aisle.

 _Forbidden Planet_ was just ending. Commander Adams, played by Leslie Neilson, had taken Altaira (Ann Blyth), Dr. Morbius' daughter away in his Earthbound flying saucer. He had also taken the robot along for good measure. The lot of them, with the surviving crew of the spaceship, watched the planet blow up.

" _About a million years from now the human race would have crawled up to where the Krell stood in their great moment of triumph and tragedy"_ intoned Leslie Neilson. " _And your fathers' name will shine again like a beacon in galaxy. It's true It will remind us that we are, after all, not God..."_

"What do you think you're doing here, geek!" interrupted Jesse, who was furious at seeing Benny and even angrier with the movie's final piece of dialogue.

Jesse was no more angry than Ethan (and Benny himself on Ethan's behalf), to see that Jesse had managed to get his arm around Sarah.

Ethan had to cover his mouth to suffocate the angry growl he knew he couldn't stop. Embarrassingly enough, he chewed on the theatre seat he was hiding behind. It was either that, or let Jesse know he was there and human again.

"I thought I'd take you some refreshments, sir" said Benny to Jesse in a voice so polite and docile it was painful for any pal of Benny's to hear. _"I also come bearing a message from Stephanie_."

"She needs help with the sacrifice, doesn't she?" asked Jesse insolently, as the brief end-credits of the movie played over its weird-electronic theme music.

"Yes" said Benny. Benny gave Jesse the message, which Jesse listened to in amusement.

 _"Works for me, bellboy_ " Jesse said casually, but then looked at Benny and Sarah with an ugly leer. "But before I go, what do you think if I told you I managed to bag that werewolf I was hunting. Seven feet and vicious. I gave it slugs with both barrels. A shotgun is the only way to hunt werewolf."

Ethan chewed furiously on the seat.

"Good job, sir" said Benny hollowly.

Jesse looked at Benny . . . it was unnatural in an obedient zombie bellboy.

"Good riddance" said Sarah in what Ethan could tell was an unnaturally subdued voice. "I hate werewolves. But . . . wasn't it once human."

"Not a human you'd like" bragged Jesse. "Don't worry about it. Just try to remember when we first watched this movie together last summer?"

"I . . . don't know" said Sarah honestly. "It was only today you helped me get my memory back. I knew I was going to meet you here at the hotel, but the blow I had in the train accident gave me amnesia. All I can remember is watching the movie with a black-haired boy. Sci-fi isn't really my thing, but it was watching the movie with you made all the difference."

Benny couldn't find his voice to say what he thought. The bellboy spell worked against it. But he shook his head warningly in Ethan's generally direction.

It drove Ethan crazy! Jesse was pretending to be Ethan so he could put his moves on Sarah! Stealing Ethan's time with Sarah, his words, the time the two spent together . . . working on Sarah's half-stolen memory.

A two-hundred and fifty year old guy, who had willingly (and with the full knowledge of what it meant) given his life to be a bloodsucker. Here Jesse was, stealing Rory's recovered life force and stealing Ethan's place, reducing Benny to acting like a polite, boot-licking automaton. _Exactly, like the polite robot on Forbidden Planet!_

Then again, Sarah most of all! And Ethan could guess what Jesse's endgame with Sarah would be.

If steam could come from Ethan's ears it would. Ethan held the chair he was hiding behind (and chewing) in an iron grip. It was all he could do to stop from tearing apart (or trying to tear apart) Jesse. Ethan was vaguely aware that from behind his hand, the yellow glowing in his eyes was as strong as the Challenger's headlights.

But if he tried, Ethan realized he wouldn't even leave the room as a human being. Ethan also belatedly realized that tearing apart Jesse wasn't part of his plan, or even in his

"Everything will come back" said Jesse soothingly. "If not here, when we go back to Whitechapel. But how about a kiss for now."

He leant in, and so did Sarah.

"Something doesn't seem right" she said.

"It's just your memory" said Jesse. "How about . . . ."

He was interrupted by the next film. Very loudly, the strains of _Three Blind Mice_ played on the loudspeakers. Moe, Larry and Shemp, starring in _Rumpus in the Harem_ , stopped all romance.

"You _actually_ think _The Three Stooges_ are romantic?" asked Sarah accusatorial.

"It's the newest one" said Benny.

"It's just the idiots working here" said Jesse, irritably. "I'll deal with the projectionist when I get back. Until later!"

"Bye, Jesse" said Sarah, pronouncing the name "Jess".

Jesse jauntily left the theatre, none too soon to Ethan's thinking.

* * *

Ethan spat out the cotton padding in his mouth, and rushed to Sarah and Benny.

"Do you remember me, Sarah!" he asked impulsively.

Sarah looked at him.

"Maybe" she answered, non-committal.

"Can you believe what he's done to Sarah now!" spat Ethan.

"Can you believe what they've done to me, sir . . . Jack the Bellboy" said Benny.

"You look familiar" said Sarah. "But what's with your eyes."

The yellow faded instantly from Ethan's eyes.

"I remember your eyes" said Sarah. "Deep Brown. But once in a while they glowed. Not yellow, but bright white."

"OW!" interrupted Shemp, as Moe poked him in the eyes with his fingers.

"And I have black hair" said Ethan, pulling it to point it out. "I'm the black-haired boy you watched _Forbidden Planet_ with. Not because you're normally a sci-fi fan, but because we . . . liked to do awesome stuff together."

Ethan ended a sad note.

"I don't know" Sarah answered. "I'm sure the guy I dated didn't have five o'clock shadow."

"Well" tried Ethan.

It came to Ethan's mind an old saying. The best defence was a good offence.

He impulsively kissed Sarah.

"You kiss better than Jesse" said Sarah, after a moment.

" _I do_? But do you remember?" asked Ethan with anticipation.

"No" said Sarah bluntly.

Sarah looked at the Three Stooges, who for reasons she couldn't follow, had arrived at a Middle Eastern Palace dressed as three Santa Clauses. Sarah decided she wasn't interested and stood up.

"This isn't a fairy tale, sir and madam" said Benny. "Caramel popcorn sir? Root beer, ma'am?"

"Can you put that stuff down?" said Ethan impatiently, taking the popcorn and root beer out of Benny's outstretched hands. He was going to put it down, but as Sarah as stood up, he spilled the root beer and popcorn all over her.

"YOU GEEK!" said Sarah furiously.

"I-I" stuttered Ethan.

"Ethan!" said Sarah, and her tone changed from anger to amusement. "It makes . . . perfect sense!"

She laughed, hugged him. Then laughed some more. Ethan joined in, but Benny was forced to freeze in another salute.

"I spend all my time with you and the other stooges" Sarah observed. "How did you get back?"

* * *

Some fifteen minutes later, _The Three Stooges_ had been replaced by the beginning of _Around The World in Eighty Days_. That began with the long-dead newsman Edward R. Murrow discussing the movie and introducing an old silent short based on Verne's _The Earth to the Moon_.

Sarah was to all appearances sitting by herself when Jesse returned. She had wiped off the sticky caramel corn and root beer.

"I was hoping you would return to me" Sarah said sweetly. "I can tell this will be a much more romantic movie."

"Maybe a bit lame for _us_ " said Jesse, "but romantic. You know, I'd really like you to watch a vampire picture with me. But a _long movie_ like this, it gives us some time to get close."

Jesse put an arm around Sarah. Sarah took his arm and flung Jesse down into the aisle, and put her foot atop his chest, pinning him down so he could hardly breathe.

To Jesse's surprise, Benny and Ethan appeared.

" _Canis . . . ._ " started Jesse.

Ethan dropped to his knees, and stuffed a wad of paper napkins over Jesse's mouth.

" _Not this time_ " said Sarah warningly. "Ethan stays human."

Jesse looked, with dreadful apprehension, as Sarah held the Astronaut Rory action figure and made to unfasten its arm.

"If you want to fight Stephanie, you'd want me instead of him" Jesse struggled to say, as Ethan released the napkins just long enough to let him speak.

"It's not your life to live, Jesse" said Sarah in a serious tone. "It's Rory's. Even if _you weren't what you are_ , it's still his life we're giving it back to him."

"You've died twice already, sir" said Benny calmly. "At the Westdale Theatre, and at the Vampire Headquarters on Lucifractor night. Now comes the third time."

When Astronaut Rory's arm was taken off, and placed on a theatre seat . . . nothing happened. Benny and Sarah weren't seers, and Ethan's gift was blocked by the powerful curse placed upon him.

But, a few seconds later Jesse dissolved into a dull black smoke and disappeared entirely. Ethan, Benny nor Sarah knew it, but it was his blackened soul.

Had Ethan been looking at the time, he could have seen it before - it leached up from the ground when Ethan made the fateful decision to dig up the _cubile animus_ as a means to de-possess Sarah.

"Whoa, this is _dumb_!" said Rory. He removed his astronaut helmet and looked at the screen. "There's no people on the moon! And they don't pop when you poke them with an umbrella! Who made this?"

Edward R. Murrow was narrating the wacky old sci-fi visit to the moon, from a silent film made in 1902.

"Dude" said Ethan, " High five."

Rory gave Ethan and Sarah high fives. Benny received his handshakes.

Then, as Rory took off his astronaut outfit (his lumberjack outfit was still underneath), he was brought up to date.

"Do you remember anything?" asked Sarah.

"No" said Rory. "Except . . . no, but it was like I was asleep. That rocket blasting off is cool, but the guy's boring!"

Ethan wasn't much interested in Edward R. Murrow either. Ethan was _even uninterested in the multi-stage nineteen-fifties' rocket_ blasting off into orbit. He walked down to the bottom of the theatre just before the screen.

"No!" he heard Jesse's voice, far away and getting fainter. "No!"

All at once it was cut off. And Ethan was sure that at that moment he smelt the stench of rotten eggs.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

The name of this chapter is a pun on the title of the James Bond film _You Only Live Twice._


	47. Boss Level

**BOSS LEVEL**

Stephanie was at work painting her evil pentagram. She had, at first, decided to try to get her zombies or her skeletons to do the work for her. But, it seemed, there was something that prevented _them_ from doing the job properly. Jesse had explained to Stephanie, impatiently, why; Stephanie couldn't delegate the job.

Stephanie _could_ let the walking corpses move the dining tables to the sides of the rooms (the tables had been left in place from where they had been set for a convention some sixty years ago). But Stephanie just could not have them draw the pentagram. There was some sort of resistance, although they were supposed to be reanimated bodies wholly without souls.

The skeletons were left guarding the main corridor leading to the double doors of the grand ballroom. A couple of black-eyeballed zombies were left inside the room; two rail-thin girls, an old woman, and Pete, the steam-scalded _other_ bellboy who had just recently been called in with a platter of roast beef, horseradish and mashed potatoes for Erica. And black coffee.

"Is it dinner already?" said Erica with a yawn to Pete. "This is _so_ boring? Won't you stay?"

"He's just the bellboy" said Stephanie, dismissing him with a wave. "After dinner, Erica, you can always practice your cheers. It might be your last chance."

"Before the big game?" said Erica.

"The biggest game" said Stephanie, with a laugh.

Stephanie said a couple of Latin words and made a hand-gesture, while looking at her witch's spell-book, the black tome with blood-red characters. Stephanie recited a spell so evil that, saying it while knowing the meaning of the words, would have condemned her soul had not she not already sold it to the devil incarnate.

Yet, the immediate effect of spell was simply to close the ballroom curtains, hiding the fog-shrouded grounds of the hotel that should not have been there.

Then, the doors to the room rattled, as if a truck or a train had close passed by.

And now the room began to glow eerily, a dull red as if lit by a distant fire.

* * *

Back in the basement theatre, Ethan had been forced tell Sarah his plan. And Rory, too, listen agape.

"You can't be serious!" Sarah exclaimed. "It would make more sense for Benny to distract Stephanie with a message while I come from behind Stephanie to fight her. Cheerleading doesn't make you a match for _even_ a green belt."

"But, ma'am" objected Benny, with a salute. "Her magical powers."

"I didn't say it was a perfect plan" Sarah retorted. "I said it makes more sense than Ethan's."

"But I'm serous" said Ethan emphatically. "It's the only thing I can do to take away her powers. Long enough to take her powers away for good. Sarah, I swear, I know what I'm doing!"

"But . . . it's sick" said Rory. "Dude, you sure your werewolf instincts aren't playing with your brain?"

"I don't know" said Ethan. "But it'll work."

"I'll help you try" said Sarah skeptically. "But consider me your backup."

"Thanks, Sarah. I just know it has to be done my way."

Under Ethan's plan, Benny still was the decoy.

Benny walked down the marble hall with military precision. His footsteps were in beat to the loathsome chorus that again pounded in his head. " _YOU'RE A BELLBOY, YOU'RE A BELLBOY. At the Leeblain HOTEL._ "

Benny's dead-black eyes gazed at the skeletons at attention on either side of him. He thought, idly, that at this moment it _really_ helped that his emotions were dulled.

"Message for Stephanie from Mr. Black. CALL FOR STEPHANIE."

One of the skeletons nodded its approval.

Benny didn't wait at the door. But using his zombie-strength, such as it was, Benny pushed them open and looked in dull surprise at the room that was bathed in a dim red light, much of which seemed to be emanating from the lines in the pentagram drawn on the floor.

Erica was practising cheerleading moves, in her Whitechapel Devils outfit, in the middle of the evil symbol.

"Message for Stephanie from Mr. Black" Benny repeated. "CALL FOR STEPHANIE."

"You . . . bellboy" said Stephanie, turning from her witch's spell-book in a quiet fury, "You wait at the door before entering. A little later and you would have ruined the ceremony of sacrifice. _Again_!"

"Mr. Black insisted it was important" Benny replied, with a salute. "And the ballroom is a public room unless specified otherwise. Hotel policy . . . ."

"I make hotel policy" said Stephanie.

"Mr. Blaine makes hotel policy" said Benny.

"Mr. Blaine's been dead for years" Stephanie replied.

"But not in 1956."

"Never mind" said Stephanie, raising her hand while her eyes glowed red. "You know you take orders from me."

"I take orders from you" repeated Benny.

"Now" ordered Stephanie, with an evil leer, "apologize for breaking into my ceremony."

Benny stood still. Something in him, resistant to the spell, made him react with disgust to so much _as pretend_ to be sorry.

"Mr. Black complains that Sarah is still not responsive" said Benny, instead of apologizing. "He wishes to have an effective love spell. He'll be sending her up directly by way of the kitchen."

Stephanie looked suspiciously at Benny. Finally, she frowned.

"Tell that _loser_ if he doesn't stop bothering me about his love life I'll sacrifice Sarah too. Even if her soul with escape the master's clutches. And tell him that while I transferred to him Rory Keener's life, that I can also _force_ him take on Rory's appearance. If he interrupts me again, I will! And I'll do it _slowly_."

There was the muffled sound of a indignant teenage boy's voice . . . abruptly being cut off as if by a hand placed over his mouth. It seemed to come from the direction of the swinging doors leading to the hotel kitchen. But Stephanie dismissed it, as Sarah, and Sarah alone, walked out from that direction.

It was good that Sarah had some practice acting. She bore a rictus grin and was careful not the express the least surprise or anger as she walked into the eerily glowing room.

But there was yet another entrance to the room. This one from a back stairwell to an outside door. And here Ethan stealthily took his entrance in his oversized-socked feet, leaving his shoes at the door.

The size fourteen shoes, Ethan was afraid, would make too much noise.

Sarah ignored Ethan and looked deadpan. Benny stood still stuck in a salute. Rory listened from behind the kitchen doors, waiting for his cue and rubbing his jaw where Sarah had clapped her hand over his mouth.

"I don't see why I should keep you alive" Stephanie told Sarah. "I want you to suffer, but you're _way_ too much in the way."

All of sudden, Stephanie thought she heard something. She turned round to look behind her.

It was too late. Ethan take hold of her right arm in grip like steel. Anger, and lycanthropy, gave him extra strength.

"How did you . . . ." started Stephanie. "You're supposed to be stuck in your true form."

The malevolent red glow played havoc on Ethan's features, dominated as they were by his burning yellow eyes.

"Good's stronger than evil" Ethan said. "Evelyn Weir's always told us that. Everyone but you _knows that_. And, get this clear Stephanie . . . a counterfeit werewolf isn't my true form!"

Stephanie struggled to move her arm, but Ethan twisted the same way Jesse had one fateful night.

But Ethan delayed. He hesitated. At heart, he didn't want to do what he felt he had to do.

"You would hit a girl?" said Stephanie.

Of course, Ethan had been told since he was a little kid not to hit or fight girls. Of course, Ethan wouldn't.

"You're not really a girl" Ethan said.

Sarah, Benny and now Rory left to watch. Erica continued to practice her cheers.

"Any of you step closer you'll see what _my power_ really is" said Stephanie. "You forget that I don't need my arm to put my _just_ curses on you. You have no right to say its good versus evil."

"Your curses weren't just or good" said Sarah icily. "They were evil curses masquerading were punishments."

" _Evil curses masquerading as punishments_. You can speak like a comic book" said Rory impressed.

"If I feel like it" said Sarah, with a smile. "An A-student and former drama-club member."

"Let go of my arm" Stephanie demanded of Ethan.

Stephanie struggled, before her eyes glowed red. Ethan avoided her gaze. Then, muttering a spell very different from Benny's own floating spell, Stephanie rose, lifting toward the ceiling with Ethan grasping and hanging from her arm.

It was now or never, as the Stephanie floated ten feet above the floor . . . Ethan pulling down her arm.

And then, in the same move Jesse had once pulled on him, Ethan gave Stephanie's arm a wrench and bit into it . . . letting her scream.

Stephanie and Ethan fell to the floor in a heep.

The enormous black tome, the witch's spell book, burst into red flames and fell apart into crisp cinders.

Sarah and Rory jumped and stared.

"No! No!" cried Stephanie as she rubbed the ugly bruise on her arm.

"When I was turning into a werewolf, _slowly and painfully_ , Ethan said, and it was obvious from his strained diction he was working hard to keep his voice from a growl, "On the first of what you intended to be _my 2 to the power of 10 times_ turning into a werewolf . . . Jesse mentioned my being born a seer helped my soul fight it off very well. _My soul fighting of the curse_ , not just my body like a normal disease. You have no soul left to fight off your own counterfeit curse _. You sold it._ So the effect on you is instant."

"I understand what you mean" said Sarah. "If it took out the powers Ethan and Benny were born with, it takes away the powers _Stephanie sold her soul for._ "

"Where's Jesse!" demanded Stephanie, whose own voice was rough as if it already wanted to come out in a growl. Her stricken look was replaced by pure malice. "And what's _Rory_ doing back in his body?"

"Jesse's gone back to . . . hell" said Ethan bluntly, breaking his childhood habit of dodging "real" swearwords. "You're lucky to be get off like this, just a counterfeit werewolf. But we don't _need_ you to be one either. So . . . who'll do the honours?"

"I will, sir" said Benny.

Benny removed his phone from the chin-strap bellboy hat. He played Evelyn's spell de-powering Stephanie. Its effect was instant. Where the young Stephanie had been, was a wrinkled woman with artificially-coloured blonde hair.

"I wouldn't care about turning into a werewolf" Stephanie said spitefully. "Just to tear you apart."

"Now the undoing spell" said Benny.

All through, Erica had been practising her cheers off to the side, indifferent to all that had been happening. She was still singing and doing cartwheels.

" _Donavit mihi totis viribus die genitus fueram Proponebat mihi maledictione pessima solvere_ " said the pre-recorded voice of Evelyn Weir, out of the smart-phone.

Evelyn repeated the words three times.

From the sound of her voice, Evelyn had really put her heart into it. What this meant, roughly translated to English, was simply " _With all the powers gifted to me on the day of my birth, I undo the evil curses set before me."_

The red glow from the pentagram ceased as the vile etching on the floor reacted, burnt and blurred black as if by an explosion.

More so, because an invisible force pushed everyone, living or dead or _worse than dead_ to the sides of the room, as if they had been repelled there by a magnet.

Stephanie was laying senseless on the floor near the double doors. Erica, having dropped her pom-poms was next to Stephanie, dazed but conscious.

Sarah, Rory and Benny were pushed to the back door were Ethan had entered. Rory, in fact, had somehow ended up wearing Ethan's Size 14 dress shoes on his hands, before flinging them down in disgust.

"Your shoes stink, dude" called out Rory. "Hey, buddy, your eyes . . . ."

Ethan had sat up, stumbled to his feet, with a pounding in his head. He nearly fell down again. His socks were slippery; stretched out of shape, way too big for his feet. Ethan felt the naturally circular tops of his ears, and the peach-fuzz on a face that couldn't yet grow a beard.

" ** _I'm back!_** " Ethan exclaimed loudly. " _Not . . . a . . . werewolf_. Real or counterfeit!"

And, Ethan noticed, to slight embarrassment, his eyes were glowing bright white. Enough to work like a flashlight! He could see the light shine on the other side of the room.

"It must be because your power's been blocked, Ethan" said Benny from across the room, as he compulsively threw his chin-strap hat to the ground. "And dude, listen up! You're _never going to get me to_ call you sir again. Because . . . _Bennny Weir, awesome spellmaster, is back!_ "

"That explains why you look as if you've been shocked" said Sarah to Benny.

"It looks sort of cool" said Rory. "Like you're a mutant or something."

"Huh?" said Benny.

Benny's hair stood up into the air, and gave off an occasional spark. More so, when he tried to flatten it down. Benny tried to snap his fingers, but let out not one but several dangerous sparks.

"Awesome" said Benny, casually. 'It's something about being born a spellmaster and naturally metabolising magic. And that being blocked. Sarah, what about my eyes?"

"Brown" said Sarah. "In white eyeballs."

"Good time to take a selfie" observed Benny, who tried to do just that.

Except he somehow overcharged his phone, and it chose to start "Enacting shutdown to preserve the battery."

"You should take a group shot with the other ex-zombies" said Rory. "But . . . their eyes are still black . . . it must be because they're actually dead."

"Where are they going?" asked Sarah.

The zombies; the thin girls, the old woman, and Pete the bellboy, carefully avoiding the burnt pentagram, started wordlessly out the double doors behind Ethan, Stephanie and Erica.

"Old school zombies, that have been dead, go back to their graves" said Benny loudly, as he continued to try to put out the built-up magical energy that he hadn't been "metabolizing." This time, by patting his clothes and letting off even more sparks.

"Will you stop that!" said Sarah.

"Maybe I should cast a spell?" said Benny, as in desperation put the chin-strap hat over his sparking hair. Benny looked toward the floor. "I think I want to kill what's left of that penta-scar with a lightning-ball."

"We are so not staying around to play games, I just want to leave" interrupted Erica, sitting up drowsily. "Sarah! Where's the car!"

"Don't cross that floor!" said Ethan, suddenly. He blocked Erica and looking her in the eyes with his still glowing-white pupils. "Just don't!"

"Why not!" said Erica impatiently. "We've won, you and magic-boy are human again. I've _completely humiliated_ myself doing cheers for you geeks, I'm sick of this ghost town and ghost hotel. I just want to get somewhere and do something real!"

"There's a reason the zombies didn't go that way."

Ethan didn't give any further answer. But his vision could see a plume of black swirling smoke rising from the centre of the ruined pentagram and enveloping the room. Below it, flickering red flames with no plain source. It was lethal, as Ethan could see the smoke ink out everything it touched.

Ethan was stranded with Stephanie and Erica. Sarah was with Benny and Rory.

"Go out the side door" Ethan yelled to the three of them. "We can't cross the room."

"Why not!" demanded Erica.

"Benny, float those shoes over to me!" said Ethan.

" _Shoes flotum nummow_ " said Benny, jauntily.

The shoes floated in the air, but suddenly crumbled into dust while crossing the pentagram.

"I see what you mean" said Erica cooly.

"We can't you leave you here!" said Sarah. "We can go around."

"We'll meet you outside!" said Ethan. "This hallway goes right to the lobby. Just get the car started! It's out by the main entrance!"

Sarah, Rory and Benny, looking back with some misgivings, ran down the stairs.

Stephanie looked around.

"Take me with you" begged Stephanie.

"Between us, we can carry her" said Ethan, looking toward the middle of the room uneasily.

In his vision, more black oily smoke was rising every second.

"Her!" said Erica.

"Yeah, her!" said Ethan.

"After what she did to you?" said Erica. "What she did to me! Ethan . . . geekboy . . . get it in your head. You're not a comic book hero!"

"She's a living woman" said Ethan stubbornly. "Not a vamp, not a monster. And she's next to helpless now. We can't leave her here."

"She is a _really old_ woman" said Erica, shrewishly as she looked contemptuously at Stephanie.

Erica didn't feel like arguing the point, but if she was going to have

At that moment, the doors out of the room locked shut.

The red glow returned, although not from the pentagram.

Ethan and Erica looked to one another. Ethan's eyes suddenly faded to their natural brown.

The swinging doors to the kitchen shone bright red, as if from heat.

Erica sighed relief when it appeared that no less than five bellboys stepped out.

"No!' said Stephanie softly from the floor, where her eyes looked upon them. "I served him well!"

"What are you whining about . . . they're just another five zombie dorks" said Erica.

"Erica . . . don't!" said Ethan earnestly. "Erica, they have eyeballs. But . . . ."

Ethan shook his head, in a frightened tone, as he looked at them and the bright white returned to his eyes.

"Sorry, Erica" said Ethan, as he impulsively grasped her wrist.

"What do you think . . ." started Erica, but she dropped her objection.

They were, at first, non-descript. That is, although the appeared to be teens with normal eyes, somehow Ethan's mind refused to process anything other than they were bellboys. Like a blurry picture.

It was through Ethan's glowing white eyes that the vision cleared, and the bellboys came into greater focus.

Then, it became clear that the eyes were the same red that Ethan had only ever seen in demons' eyes. With, in their case, flaming red hair to match the eyes and the uniform.

"Stay back!" said Ethan tremulously. "We have . . . ."

"You . . . have . . . nothing" said one, or all five of the demons. "Just the right to see through us, but that won't protect you."

They spoke without moving their lips. In a strange voice, booming yet almost sounding like a whisper.

They began to walk to the far side of the room. Only, they didn't walk in the ordinary sense of the word. After entering the room, they stood in place for a few seconds . . . then they disappeared and instantly appeared a few paces away. Where they'd be if they had been walking the whole time.

Standing, disappearing and reappearing a few paces away. Standing, disappearing and reappearing a few paces away. "Walking" around the room.

"We're not natives of Earth or albinos" laughed the "bellboys". "And definitely not your friends."

"The phone" said Erica. "The spell."

"It won't work" said Ethan glumly, as he could see envision it melting in Erica's hand. "Don't even try. . . ."

Erica tried to start her phone, to use Evelyn's spell, but it melted away to the floor.

This time, Ethan's vision had literally come true.

"Think you can use your powers to put us in a trap, _Ethan Phillip Morgan_!" sneered the demons in their malevolent whisper. "We're not here, but at the master's call. You have no way to hold onto us!""

The demons continued to make their strange circuit of the room, making sure to go into the blasted pentagram.

"They're powering up" said Ethan quietly, as he and Erica stood fearfully against the door.

"We'll fight them" said Erica sullenly.

"As long as you don't see the reds of their eyes, you're okay" said Stephanie fearfully.

"What's she talking about?" said Erica. "We can!"

"She can't see what I can" said Ethan.

"Then let go of me!" Erica said selfishly.

"Not seeing won't help" Ethan objected.

"It will!" said Erica.

Erica pulled her wrist from Ethan's grasp. But, it turned out, that let Ethan's vision focus on the demons even more. Ethan's eyes would have shown his terror, had they not been glowing white.

Ethan's gift was powerful, all right. In Ethan's sight, the last of the "bellboy's" disguise was stripped away. They were everything demons were supposed to look like. Horned, hoofed, with skin burnt as red as their uniforms.


	48. The Horn Blows At Midnight

**THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT**

"They're just some geeky un-dead bellboys" said Erica once again, as if she were assuring herself.

"D-demons aren't and never were humans" Ethan said, and the fright was apparent in his voice. "At least there's very few people who think they were. They're just . . . _creatures . . .minions._ "

"Life isn't a comic book" Erica retorted.

The demons now appeared within ten feet of them. Ethan, with a look of irritation at Erica, again grasped her wrist.

"Sorry!" said Ethan. "You . . . have to see what we're up against."

And Ethan truly was sorry.

Erica gasped.

"I don't believe it" she said.

Benny had looked strange in his chin-strap cap atop his black hair. It didn't look half so strange as a bellboy cap atop red hair with horns in front.

Within a month of being cured of being a vamp, Rory had received a sunburn from a cheap tanning bed spa. He wasn't half so red as the demons.

Ethan's lately oversized feet weren't half so weird as the fact the demons wore no shoes at all. As in popular myth, these demons didn't have feet or shoes but cloven hooves.

"The master has had enough of you" said the demon in the middle, who seemed to be the lead. He had epaulettes on his shoulders, as if he were the bellboy captain. "We'll deal with all three. In this dimension, and with the doors barred, you're at our mercy."

"And mercy isn't one of our kinds' attributes" said another of the demons.

Their red pupil seemed to be made of flame, and their hair. Their red skin glowed in the unhallowed light.

"There's something I can do" said Ethan.

" _Even a worm will turn when he's cornered_ " said the demon-captain contemptuously.

"I'm . . . we're more than worms" said Ethan. "Life isn't a comic book, but . . . I have a signature move."

"If you want to be possessed" sneered the demon-captain. "Again."

Ethan let go of Erica. He used every ounce of courage to step forward, and overcoming a deep revulsion (and the smell of rotten eggs), grasped the demon captain by the wrist.

The demon laughed cruelly.

 _There was a burning, breath-stealing blow Ethan suffered. Everything went berserk in his vision. Instead of imprisoning the demon in his mind, Ethan put himself in a startling nightmare._

 _Lights flickered went black and red at maddening speeds. Surrounding him, round and round, were the heads and visages of enemies._

 _Gord, Jesse's lieutenant. The siren, at full screech. The Maztec sky goddess. Mudrap. Anastasia and her yes-men of the vampire council. Gremlins and demon-possessed turtles. A moon going from waxing from crescent to full, waning to new and waxing to full again._

 _"HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" they laughed, as round and round the images blurred._

 _Faster and faster into a blur._

 _"Give me that, you little loser" said large teen boy, pushing the six-year old Ethan into a mud puddle._

 _"Try and stop me" said the kid down the street, as he took slapshots at the Morgan's garage._

 _"We can use our avatars" said the now teenage Ethan to the yearbook committee, who looked at him as if he was crazy._

 _"You geek" said Sarah, as Ethan again dropped his tray full of food on her. The cafeteria laughed loudly._

 _"Oh" said Rory, as he fainted dead away after being bitten by Erica at the vampire party._

 _Several Duskers lay dead on the floor of the Westdale._

 _"No!" said Ethan._

 _Jesse bit Ethan's arm. Sarah went in to take away the poison._

 _Ethan tried to read the siren's mind, and his mind was filled with a piercing shriek._

 _A nightmare vision of everyone in Whitechapel, dead-eyed zombies and mutilated dead._

 _Free-falling from a thousand feet in the air._

 _Turning slowly into a werewolf, being stretched into a monster._

 _A nightmare vision of what might well have been the surface of Venus. Erupting volcanoes, geysers pouring out sulphuric smoke, and a landscape barren and dark._

 _And then at once, everything went up into red flames._

All faded to black as Ethan realized he was against the firmly locked door that led out the ballroom.

Ethan gasped for breath, and opened his eyes wide.

"You thought that you could best the master" said the demon-captain in a mocking tone. " _Signature move_? Even if _she_ failed, we've decided to dispose of you. But first . . . Stephanie is forfeit."

"No!" said Stephanie.

"This can't be real"

One of the demons unrolled a piece of brown parchment in red ink that dripped from the page. Ethan realized it wasn't ink, but Stephanie's own blood.

"You know why the old woman packed the magic box?" leered a demon, whose teeth were sharp as a crocodile. "To preserve her soul from us. But _no magic box_."

"You can't!" said Ethan.

"What's he talking about?" said Erica. "Do something . . . or I will!"

"What?" asked one of the demons.

And without a move by the demon, Erica found herself blasted to the floor aside Ethan.

"The . . . ." started Ethan.

"The only question is the door in the floor or the door through the kitchen" said the demon-captain.

"Door in the floor" said the other demons in a, for lack of a better word, demonic chorus. " _Door in the floor."_

The singed pentagram span around, and around, and led to the mysterious spiralled pit Ethan remembered from the defeat of Valerie Mudrap and her hold on the Mole Scouts.

Ethan's powers had matured since then. But he wasn't happy to see that the spirals faded to show what was behind them. Red-blue flames.

"Maybe it's a way out" said Erica.

" _Are you crazy?_ "

Ethan grabbed her by the arm again, looking at her with equal parts desperation, incredulousness and pity.

"They . . . want . . . to . . . drag . . . us . . . to . . . _hell_ " said Ethan terrified, but again with the unusual emphasis of a kid for whom swearing was unusual. "Hades, blazes, whatever you want to call it."

"No."

 _"Yes_."

"But . . . in _Dusk_!"

"DUSK!" said Ethan.

"NOOOO" interrupted Stephanie.

The "door in the floor" started pulling her away. It had some sort of pull on Stephanie, and only Stephanie.

Ethan dived down and grabbed her hand.

Stephanie, finally, looked to Ethan with gratitude.

But it was too late.

In a moment, Ethan found he was holding the hand of a cold dead woman. The spirit, the ghost, the _soul_ of Stephanie was pulled down into the door in the floor to the cruel laughter of the demons.

"Now for Erica Jones" said the demonic bellboy-captain.

"You can't have her" said Ethan.

"The master was right" said another demon.

" _As he always is_ " said the demon-captain.

"He is becoming quite the valiant hero" said a demon who hadn't spoken; this one's voice was like that of nails scraping on a blackboard.

"She's not dead, she didn't sell her soul" said Ethan.

"Do you want to go through everything she's done as a vampire?" said the demon-captain. "She wanted to be a vampire, she signed up for destroying her soul."

"I didn't" said Erica.

"She still wants to be a vampire" repeated the demon-captain.

"But she isn't" said Ethan tersely. "And she didn't exactly volunteer. All she did . . . ."

"Don't tell them" said Erica.

"I think they know about all your sins" Ethan retorted.

But Erica was touched to see Ethan stumble up in front of her.

"In the original _Battlestar Galatica_ " Ethan said to the demons.

"Benny Weir's favourite" sneered the bellboy-captain. "But we know _you_ prefer the re-imagined series."

"Why should we care about your tv series?" said another demon.

"Because . . ." said Ethan, and he began on a roll, " _Count Iblis_. . . the devil . . . _your_ master, kills Apollo to get to Sheba. Apollo gets brought back to life, because he never followed Iblis. So . . . not only can't you Erica, you can't really go through me."

"And who's to protect you?" said the demon-captain. "You are in the master's dimension, and in his power. We can kill you, we can maim you. We might even again make you a permanent werewolf. _But this time_ forever imprisoned in this hotel with your memories, and your dashed hopes. But first we take Erica."

" _Door in the floor_ " started the demons again. " _Door in the floor_."

Erica found herself being pulled to the trap door and the red-blue flames.

And Erica did a strange thing. _She fainted_.

"No!" said Ethan. "Don't! You don't know why . . . ."

"Because she was teased in school" laughed a demon. "And she liked a book series."

"And she wanted to be glamorous and rich" said the demon-captain. "There's been many who wanted to be glamorous or rich that _did it our way_ and came our way when they finally died."

"Even the vampires, sooner or later" said another demon. "They just fall out of limbo after awhile to their final destination."

The demons laughed.

"She's not dead yet" protested Ethan. "She can change her mind. About everything."

"You don't even like her" said the demon-captain.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't" Ethan retorted. "If she's not exactly a friend, she's a friend of a friend."

"It's too late. You're in our power. Who's going to help you!"

"H-HELP!" said Ethan as he looked, up, around and desperate.

* * *

There was a flash of white light that dazed Ethan. It sent the demons through their door in the floor which disappeared . . . along with the burnt remains of the pentagram, the unworldly red glow.

When Ethan racked his mind, he wondered if he had literally seen something with sword drawn.

But all, in fact, he did see was the ballroom lit up, Erica resting peacefully on the floor, and the body of Stephanie laid out on a table.

There was also a man, dressed in the style of the nineteenth century, patiently peeling a orange with a pocketknife.

The man looked at Ethan with curiosity. Ethan looked at him, wondering if he should be suspicious.

"It's all over, Ethan" said the man. "You haven't anything to fear from me."

The man spoke in the voice Ethan had heard a few days before, when the skeletons had taken him into the hotel. It was a untroubled, rested voice.

There was a resemblance to Ethan's father in the man about the chin, so much so Ethan asked "Dad?"

"There is no place where demons have free reign" said the man, "And they haven't any right to take you, or her" said the man. "As least, for her, not yet."

Ethan looked at him.

" _What are you_?" said Ethan.

Ethan wandered about his identity. Could it be a demon . . . or even worse?"

"Your great-great grandfather" said the man, with a trace of offense in his voice. "George Isaac Morgan. The man who Jesse told you had also been a loser. Come, Ethan, look."

Ethan did.

 _And in a brief vision Ethan could see his house, a hundred years before. The rooms were different (the living room and dining room were separated by a wall), the furniture old, but there was a painting of his great-great grandfather on the wall above a fireplace._

""Take heed, Ethan" said the man. "It is a gift to be here talking to you, there were others who would have gladly taken my place. You've done a lot. And if you're not permitted to see the guardian angel sent to save you, it's only because there are things you're not permitted to see."

Ethan looked at his great-great grandfather a moment, then anger welled up in his mind.

"Guardian angel!" said Ethan. "I went through all _this_ crap . . . ."

"Watch your language, boy" said Ethan's ancestor.

"I've been driven out of my mind" Ethan started. " _I've been turned into an animal_."

"A _demonic_ animal."

"A demonic animal. My best friend's been a zombie. Sarah's been under the power of _the ghost of a vampire_. I've gone against a witch. Malcolm, Malcolm's soulless double. And . . . ."

"The demons had no right to directly attack or take you or Erica. Alack and alas for Stephanie, it was too late. She chose her fate."

" _Alas and alack_ for her" said Ethan, in a sarcastic voice.

"You're in your teenage years" said George Morgan, as he began to eat his orange slices. "It's understandable that you'll have trouble with your temper."

"I . . . have a right to be angry" said Ethan, lamely.

"Care for an orange, boy?"

"I . . . don't think so."

"Suit yourself" said George Morgan, as he finished the orange, and looked calmly at his great-great grandson. "You feel ill used. Why did you have to go through this monstrous torment at the hands of the forces of evil?"

"Of course I want to know why!" said Ethan heatedly.

"You're the first Morgan in several generations to have been the gift of foresight and prognostication" said George Morgan. "You've made good use of it. Now, when the lucifractor exploded, your friends' curses removed, and all set to right in Whitechapel; what was your one remaining fear? The fear that caused you to accidentally foresee your whole life _pass ahead of you!_ "

"Erica" said Ethan promptly. "She desperately wanted to be a vampire again."

"A fear for which you nearly ruined your life; a fear that a king gremlin used to make you look especially foolish" George Morgan reviewed.

"I know" said Ethan irritably

"Well, now, Erica won't" said George Morgan triumphantly. "That is why Sometimes people are very hard headed. Fear is somehow the only motivator. Your future won't change much . . . I shan't tell you what it will be, but rest assure _your future won't change_. Erica's will. Erica won't be a vampire. She will seek her glamorous life amongst the living and not the un-dead. Sarah will write to her. And if Erica ever seeks to wallow in evil deed, the pleasant scene you just lived with dissuade her."

Ethan started to grin in spite of himself.

"The forces of evil sought to trap you. The only reason these things were allowed to go as far as they did, were to save Erica's soul. It is the one thing that's more precious than life itself. But you'll never be able to tell Erica. And it might even take months for you to recover. You know, you're of a bit of nervous disposition"

"Grandpa . . . I think I have a right to be" said Ethan tersely.

"Surely. But let's take Erica to Malcolm's car. She won't recover consciousness until she leaves the building."

George Morgan and Ethan helped a sleep-walking Erica out the suddenly open double doors.

"Now it really is 1956" said Ethan's great-great grandfather. "But they can't see us."

The hotel had changed. There were happy vacationers going here and there, and waiting for the elevator. Ethan's great-great grandfather pulled Ethan's ear when he looked at the girls in the bathing suits headed for the outdoors.

There were five or six teenage boys hired as bellboys, and rushing, Benny-like, when called by the large silver bell at the desk. One of the bellhops had a yoyo, another was covertly reading a comic-book.

The desk itself was managed by a smartly dressed young woman, and a fat man with a moustache.

"Remember what was merely a parody of reality, a false echo, is Scratch's stock in trade."

"But how do we get back?" asked Ethan.

"Watch the clock above the desk" said Ethan's great-great grandfather.

The chrome clock sped up, along with the people in the lobby. Suddenly the lobby was again deserted except for a tired looking clerk answering a phone.

It was dark outside, and the fog had returned.

"You'll be back in the pocket-dimension outside" said Ethan's great-great grandfather. "Tell Sarah to turns southwards, by way of the trestle across Gunflint Lake. And don't stop until you're across the border."

"Why?" asked Ethan.

"It's the only way you'll escape in time. The horn blows at midnight."

Ethan awkwardly gave his great-great grandfather a handshake. After all a hug seemed weird, and Ethan doubted his great-great grandfather was the high five or fist-bumping kind.

It was, after all, strange enough, to lead the now sleep-walking Erica outside into the mist.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Part horror, partly just weird! But the reason Ethan was allowed to go through this horror was, he discovered, to save Erica's soul.

"War of the Gods" was a the two-part episode of _Battlestar Galactica,_ with the devil appearing in the person of "Count Iblis".

"The Horn Blows At Midnight" was a 1945 movie starring the comedian Jack Benny, an infamous box-office failure that he joked about for years.


	49. The Escape

**The Escape**

Ethan emerged from the hotel with Erica to see the Challenger's headlights shining directly at him.

Sarah was at the wheel, Rory was leaning out his window, while Benny was standing impatiently. He had lost the chin-strap cap, but of necessity was still wearing his bellboy uniform.

 **"It's about time"** said Sarah. "The doors were locked, we were about to try breaking them down."

"Ethan, _where_ were you?" asked Benny, who, Ethan noticed, seemed to be relishing his ability to move around the restored pupils of his eyes. "And what's with Erica?"

"She's in a trance" said Ethan. "A good one. But that's a . . . _story_ " Ethan finished lamely. "What counts is we get out of here . . . _fast!_ Help me put Erica in back."

"Why!' asked Benny.

"I have an idea my great-great grandfather doesn't want me to look at what's going to happen until we cross the border" said Ethan.

"Huh?" said Rory.

"Uh . . . never mind" said Ethan. " _But we can't wait._ And . . . ." Ethan grimaced, and gave a wry expression. "These stones hurt my feet. I haven't any shoes to wear."

It was strange to have Erica sitting between Rory and Benny. She opened her eyes for a second, looked about, _actually looked relieved_ , and fell asleep.

"Are you sure she's okay?" said Sarah.

"She's had a . . . shock" Ethan repeat.

"Erica doesn't react like that" said Sarah.

Ethan opened his mouth to explain, but shut it quickly as he changed his mind.

"Sarah . . . just step on it" Ethan begged. " _Please, just step on it._ We have to get out of here. To the railroad tracks and south across the trestle."

"To the states?" asked Benny. "Is there a crossing open this time of year?"

"It's the fastest way out" said Ethan, who looked at the speedometer and the clock.

"I dunno how it got so late" said Rory, as the car finally sped away.

"Pocket dimension" said Benny. "Dude, Erica's . . . _asleep again_?"

"What happened to her?" said Sarah.

Sarah had started the car, and accelerated as she left the fog-bound lawn of the hotel. She sped up on the road to Leeblaine proper, going up the hill. Sarah had no intention of taking the "scenic road" by the cemetery and the lake, but driving the road past the gas station directly to town.

"I'll tell you later" said Ethan.

"You'll tell me now" said Sarah sternly. "I'm the one who's driving."

Ethan said, in as few words as he could, what had happened in the hotel ballroom. There was stunned silence, and, as Ethan expected, Sarah let her pressure on the gas pedal ease.

"We have to get out" said Ethan.

"Sorry" Sarah said briefly, and she sped. "But will she be all okay?"

Ethan looked at her, and by the unexpected glow in his eyes, knew that he would have no problem being a seer again. This vision was one of those symbolic, esoteric ones.

* * *

It starred, appropriately enough, Erica. She appeared to be riding a car, one of those toy carnival rides on wheels. A woman in early middle age, a woman Ethan didn't recognize; a thin, tall blonde with high cheekbones, pulled a switch that put Erica's car on another track with a sudden jolt.

Sarah was watching; looked a little jealous. But she applauded.

 _"It gives me what I wanted most for her" Sarah said, with a shrug_.

* * *

"Very okay" said Ethan.

By this time the Challenger had gone over the hill, leaving the castle-like hotel behind him. They sped into town passed the _Esso_ station and the corner. There was certain noise down that road, like scratching and digging.

"The zombies, the skeletons, they're going back to their graves" Benny said matter-of-fact. "That's what old school zombies do if they're already dead and their curse has been lifted."

"It doesn't seem fair" Rory objected, as he thought about it. "They got brought back to life, and they have to go bury themselves in their graves."

"You've got to remember" Ethan explained. "It's just their bodies that've been stolen. Not their souls. They're returning to where they were put to rest."

"Okay, Ethan" said Rory. "Makes more sense that way."

The Challenger roared down the empty street. Past the mist-shrouded church, the school with red ensign still flying, the general store where Ethan bought his suit and the day's edition of the _Winnipeg Free Press._ Sarah slowed to manoeuver through the rail tunnel, but bounced off the road by the station with the decorative turrets, and onto the bouncing tracks. Southbound.

"I think we _only_ have until the snowmobiler's body leaves town" said Ethan, thinking. "Until he goes back to where the Windego killed him."

"I hope someone finds him soon and tells his family" said Sarah solemnly.

After passing a couple of short sidings, the rail-line rose to a high level above the village and the rocky, forested landscape. In another moment, fog on either side made it look like they were bouncing unevenly above a lake of swirling white smoke.

Then, the embankment was replaced by a wooden trestle as the stones beneath were replaced by tracks and tries resting on wooden supports. No car could cross this . . . that is, without the magical spell keeping the car from getting stuck on the rails or falling between the ties.

Beneath them was the dark, lapping water as it appeared in the August of 1957.

This was the lake, the border. Not just the international border, but the border of this perverse echo of 1957.

It was about a mile later, when, at once, the rails ended and the roadbed had been planked for the benefit of hikers and snowmobilers. The water lapped against a frozen overcropping. The mist ended, leaving the Challenger to drive smoothly the rest of the way across the trestle.

"My great-great grandfather" Ethan said. "He said we could look once we're out."

The teens, except Erica, left the car.

It was a cold wind, and cold, clear night. Except for the bank of mist shrouding their view of the Canadian side of the lake.

The moon had waned to its last quarter. Ethan looked at it, wondering how it weird seemed that ever had any power over him. _Besides, indirectly of course, the effect its gravitation pull had on the tides, stabilising the orientation of the Earth on its axis, and gradually slowing its rotation!_

"What do you think will happen?" said Benny, looking toward the large fogbank with anticipation. "I bet huge explosion."

"No" said Rory. "I think fade away into the fog."

"From what you told us" said Sarah. "I think it'll sink."

"Where?" asked Ethan.

"To Hades. Like in Edgar Allan Poe's _City in the Sea_ " said Sarah.

Sarah looked to Erica. There was a time when she could or would recite a good deal of poetry.

"No" said Ethan, thoughtfully. "It wasn't an evil town. It was just the weird pocket dimension that Stephanie created. When my great-great grandfather took me through the hotel lobby, he showed me what it had been like in the old days _. I think_ he was showing me it to remind me that."

"He may have been showing you even more proof that evil's no match for good" said Sarah. "Stephanie's spell couldn't hold when he came to rescue you, it went off like a switch. What was he like, was he really your guardian angel?"

"It depends if angels are separate beings, or if you call someone who looks after you . . . up there . . . a guardian angel" said Ethan. "But he was an awesome guy, though it was a little hard to relate to him . . . he lived a hundred years ago. He's very . . . stiff and formal. But very calm."

"Now I know I you got to be so uptight" joked Benny.

"Yeah, but I'm betting that dude kept the Jesse and the vamps out while he was alive" said Rory. "It'll explain why Jesse called him a loser."

"I'm betting that" said Ethan. "Or at least keeping them away from innocent people."

"What did he say to Erica?" asked Sarah.

"Nothing" said Ethan. "She's been like this since the demons were sent back to where they belong."

"Yeah, pal. Speaking of back to where they belong . . . ." said Benny impatiently. "I'm not going to wait here forever . . . ."

And then something began to happen. A rumble, like an earthquake. It grew louder, and some stones at the side of the embankment began to slip into the earth.

Then, at once, the mist glowed red. There was an enormous bang that rattled the windows of the Challenger and sent Team Sabre scrambling behind the car, half-ducking for cover.

Then the rumble continued as the red mist transformed to smoke, rising high and quick, in a column of smoke and spreading out flat above high in the air.

A cloud shaped very much like a mushroom.

"Whoa!" said Benny bantering. "If I didn't know better I'd say it was nuclear. The forces of evil are really _not happy_ to fold their extra-dimensional circus tent."

" _Is it nuclear?_ " asked Sarah sharply.

"No" said Ethan. "Then we couldn't be this close."

"We'd all be dead" said Benny bluntly. "It's not going be like _Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls_."

"Yeah, it wasn't realistic Indiana using the fridge as a nuclear bomb shelter" Rory acknowledged. "But _way awesome_. . . Your . . . great-great grandad knew you'd want to see an explosion like that."

"Yeah, I'm sure he did" Ethan agreed.

This mushroom cloud didn't stay as long as a "natural" atomic bomb.

A strong gust of wind dispersed what was left of the cloud. When the four strained their eyes to looked across the lake at Leeblain, nothing was left beneath the moonlit sky except for the dark battered church, a clearing, and many young firs that had grown in the breach.

"I guess we're back in the real world" Sarah observed.

* * *

The fact they were in the real world was emphasized when Ethan noticed the shed at the side of the trail, with instructions to report to U.S. customs under penalty of law.

Inside the unheated building, there was a video phone. Ethan contacted a bored guard stationed at International Falls, a hundred miles to the west. She demanded all five report to the phone in the shed.

It took some doing as the shed was small and Erica was groggy and still stunned. But all five went in to report. All five held up their passports to the video phone in turn.

"Reason for travelling to the United States?"

"We're taking a shortcut back home" Ethan said.

"Where?"

"Whitechapel, Ontario."

"You can go" she said.

"Aren't you interested in why we're dressed like this?" asked Rory. "And what we're doing out here in the middle of the night?"

Everyone in the cramped shed gave Rory a glare.

They were a sight. The only one dressed normally in a coat and jeans was Sarah. Erica had a coat on over her cheerleader outfit and miniskirt. Rory still had his lumberjack flannel jacket, which at least fit the area. Benny, in the middle of the wilderness, was still dressed as an old school hotel bellboy.

And Ethan had on suit and tie, with the now clunking, oversized boots he had purchased at the 631 Lodge. He had lost two pairs of boots the two times he turned into a werewolf, and one pair of dress shoes to the forces of darkness.

"No" said the woman. "If you had meant any trouble you would have tried to go on without checking in. And we would have booked you for a felony. But I'll give you a warning. If you drive a car on that trail again, they'll be a $1000 fine."

"Which way to the interstate?" asked Benny.

"You're at Gunflint Lake, right? Across from . . . the ghost town of Leeblain. Drive to the road, take the Gunflint Trail to its end, and follow the highway south to Duluth where the I-35 begins."

"Thank you" volunteered Sarah.

"Don't mention it. Good night."

With that, the screen went black.

All in all, Ethan considered their getting past the border without any more questions to be a minor miracle in and of itself.

 _To be continued._


	50. Ethan Votes, Erica Changes Her Mind

**In which Ethan casts a Deciding Vote and Erica Changes Her Mind**

Duluth, Minnesota is a port city on Lake Superior. Alongside the neighbouring Superior, Wisconsin, the cities are known as the Twin Ports. In some ways, they were the larger, American counterpart to Thunder Bay.

The teens drove into the city by way of the two-lane Highway 61 that was the main link to the Canadian frontier. By the time they reached the city limits, it was breakfast time. They stopped at a brand new hotel near the end of the I-35, part of a major chain. After a brief meal, they went to their respective rooms and slept. It was just as well, Ethan for one could barely keep his eyes open.

Escaping an evil witch, her monsters, and the forces of evil will do that to you.

To Ethan, it meant the beginning of a month-long ordeal of nightmares and uneasy sleep.

A dude's best friends don't really have standing to stop his nightmares. But Benny and Rory decided to wake up Ethan late in the afternoon.

"Wake up, dude!" said Benny.

"Ethan, chill!" said Rory another time. "It's over! Whoa, see his eyes glow white! That seeing thing must make his nightmares look real."

"It sure does" complained Ethan, who looked annoyed at being pulled from his sleep. Although it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

"Just think . . . it's over" said Benny cooly. "Stephanie's gone, and on a full moon _you can do whatever you want again. Even plant tulips if moon-phase planting is what you're into_."

"If you think that sucked" Rory pointed out, "think about the mountain of homework we'll have when we get home. And we still have tons of practice before we can get Musetronics ready to play for the dance."

Ethan realized that, as his great-great grandfather warned, he'd have to deal with the aftermath psychologically. PTSD, or what they used to call shell-shock.

Benny and especially Rory could shrug-off the adventure, now it was over. But not Ethan. Ethan thought he _just had_ a more serious, worrying natures than his best friend (and _especially_ his second best friend). The "nervous disposition" his great-great grandfather had identified.

This wasn't even the first time an adventure had left Ethan desperate for quiet, normal times. The memory of the demon that had possessed Sarah was just one example.

And Stephanie, and her alliance with the forces of evil, had left Ethan under the curse for a few weeks. Being a werewolf had scrambled Ethan's brains, and the final encounter with the demons had left him with about the scare of his life. And, for Ethan, given his last couple years, that was saying a lot!

"You know" said Ethan, "it's lucky that my great-great grandfather came."

"Yeah, he saved you" said Benny. "You, know we should _really_ have picked a hotel that could have rented us game systems."

" _X box, Playstation, or Nintendo Wii_?" asked Rory.

"No" said Ethan, ignoring Rory. "I mean there's something about knowing that good can cut through evil . . . like a light sabre . . . to calm you down."

"Or as we say on Earth" said Sarah, who entered the room from a connecting door, "like a hot knife through butter. "I thought I'd take you across the street."

"Why?" said Ethan.

"Shoes that fit" said Sarah.

"Yeah" joked Ethan. "Werewolves seem to go through a lot of clothes."

* * *

Ethan did get a pair of fitting shoes, not to mention the boots to replace the $60 pair his hind-paws had destroyed in the woods. The memory shook Ethan so much he dropped the boots.

"Ethan . . . it's over" said Sarah kindly.

"I . . at least it's not caramel corn" Ethan said. "How's Erica taking things? Back to normal, too?"

"She's been quiet" said Sarah. "Very quiet and thoughtful. If I had to guess, she's battling with herself."

"She is?" asked Ethan.

"Erica's very proud" said Sarah, carefully. Sarah wanted to explain it to Ethan; but she wasn't the type to backstab her best friend. "You need to understand, as much as it doesn't make sense to you, she loves _Dusk_. She may finally give up her vampire dream . . . but she'll want to save face?"

"You're BFF's" Ethan pointed out. "She can admit she was wrong to you."

"Not only to me" said Sarah. "To herself."

* * *

Ethan and Sarah remembered their promises. Roger Latour, Malcom Brunner (grandson of Manafort Brunner), among others, were told of Team Sabre's victories.

Funny thing was, Rory had remembered too. So had Benny. So Malcolm, Roger each received three sets of emails.

And Benny had a long talk with Evelyn . . . who warned him about taking too much time to get home again.

Benny may have resented it. But, now completely de-zombified, he called and sent several text messages to Della too.

* * *

Ethan had kept the suit from the general store, considering it a gift. Benny, on the other hand, had quickly trashed the bellboy uniform, having first angrily ripped the red strap-on cap to pieces.

Benny ran into Erica at the dumpster behind the hotel. She was trashing her _Whitechapel High_ cheerleader outfit.

"Thinking of trashing _Dusk_?" asked Benny smirkingly.

"Be grateful I don't throw you in the dumpster" Erica snapped. "Karate lessons are more empowering than you think."

" _Like you're that good_ " Benny retorted. But he said it under his breath.

* * *

The upshot was everyone went to supper dressed normally. It was typical diner fare, turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce or roast beef, horseradish, mashed potatoes and coleslaw depending on their choice.

Most of the meal was stuffing their faces (at least for Ethan, Benny and Rory) and joking.

There was one more choice. The drive home.

"It's a day's drive home from here" Ethan said seriously, examining _Google Maps_ on his smartphone. "So, which way do we go? US 2 across Michigan to the I-75, the Straits of Mackinac and across the Port Huron. Or do we take the Interstate System, I 35 and the I 94 through Detroit and the Ambassador Bridge."

"Mackinac" said Rory. "There's an awesome suspension bridge there."

"Interstate" said Benny. "I'm sick of driving through the woods on two lane highways."

"You're not the one driving" Ethan told him.

"That makes it more boring."

"If we go on the intestate, we'll have to time it." Sarah put in. "That route goes through Chicago."

"Traffic lights the other way" said Benny.

"Let's take Chicago" said Erica, who was getting to be her old self. "I'm _way_ sick of this little wilderness expedition of yours. If you're not an animal any longer," Erica needled _,_ "you're not going to want to drive another day in the woods."

"It's up to you, buddy" said Rory confidently.

Rory may have had little common sense. But he was sometimes sharper than you'd think. Ethan cared as much as he did about Chicago. It had a Stanley Cup winning hockey team, that was it. And _Sarah didn't want to go_! Even Ethan's best buddy Benny couldn't overrule that . . . not unless there were a _Star Wars_ convention or something!

Besides, Rory was sure Erica telling Ethan "he wasn't an animal any longer" was sure to backfire on her.

Rory was right . . . at least for the moment.

"We're not stopping in Chicago to look around" Ethan reminded Erica. "We'd passing through. So what the heck would be the point?"

"Why not?" said Erica.

"Why?" said Ethan. "It's not as if we're going to a _Blackhawk's_ game?"

It was at that minute Ethan received an email.

" _Ethan. Malcolm here. Congrats on putting your howling days behind you._ "

"Howling days?" questioned Ethan.

"The guy has a weird senses of humour" Benny replied, as he looked over Ethan's shoulder.

" _If you're going back through Chicago, will pay for Flames v. Blackhawks Saturday night, hotel or anything else you want. Only have one treatment more before Invisible Treatment gone for good. PS. Thanks for getting back my Challenger. Never thought I'd see it again._ "

* * *

The sandstone _Lake Michigan Arms Hotel_ was very old, very fancy, and _very overpriced_. Ethan didn't so much enjoy it, as be grateful it was going to be the last hotel he'd be staying in for a long, long time.

Benny managed to somehow snicker at the bellboys in the hotel. They wore uniforms like his late one, except blue instead of red.

"They're being paid to dress like clowns" Benny told Ethan. "Completely different from being an undead zombie bellboy!"

As for Ethan, he remembered the five demonic bellboys and dodged the blue-uniformed "clowns" and carried up his own backpack to his room.

* * *

Sarah had suggested the group take in a live theatre show that afternoon. Ethan was game . . . he had the idea of sitting beside Sarah and watching the show. Sarah loved drama . . . especially drama with no vampires. What an awesome way to unwind!

Benny thought it would be boring, but a best buddy should play along; Rory held out hope for a sci-fi play.

It was just too bad that Erica convinced Sarah that _she should buy the tickets_ to a Saturday Afternoon Matinee. It turned out to be the Chicago production of _Dusk: The Rock Music Video_.

Two hours of mind-numbing torture followed for Ethan. Erica loved it. Sarah, who was once a Dusker herself, tolerated it.

Rory and Benny ducked out within ten minutes and split an extra-large Mediterranean Pizza at the pizzeria across the street. They also split up their time pretending to gag, or making jokes at _Dusker's_ expense.

" _Watching . . . that . . . is . . .worse . . . than . . . being . . . a . . . brain-eating . . . zombie_ " Benny said, when Ethan met up with his friends in the theatre lobby.

"No way I'm watching _Dusk_ " Rory added irritably.

"I thought you might have looked at the Duskers?" asked Ethan. "They're mostly chicks?"

"Yeah, but I'll be gone from Chicago first thing tomorrow morning" said Rory petulantly. "Besides, do you really want to hang with a girl who gushes about being a vampire? The Rorster's staying in the sunlight, not hanging undead in the shadows."

"She wouldn't know they really exists" said Ethan. "Or what they're like. Or even what you give up."

"Or what it's like to be brainwashed" said Benny.

"Well Ethan" said Rory. "Let's say you met a werewolf or zombie groupie? How'd you like that? You couldn't stand it? Huh?"

"I . . . get it" said Ethan, shuddering at the thought.

"Chill, dude" said Benny, slapping him on the shoulder. "Chill. _It's over_."

Sarah had been patiently listening to Erica gush about the film.

"You know, not only did the songs catch the _Dusk_ spirit. But even though a rock musical doesn't leave much time for real drama, the show fit it in. I loved Isabella, how she really said _All my life I wanted to be a vampire_."

" _That was perfect!_ " a woman exclaimed, who had been standing nearby.

Ethan looked, and stopped. It was the woman from his vision the day before. The tall, thin blonde with blue eyes and high cheekbones. Smartly dressed in a black pant-suit with scarf, she must have been good looking in her youth. But she was ancient now . . . nearly fifty he guessed.

"I'm Katherine Engel, the director" said the woman.

"Is she really the director?" Benny asked Ethan skeptically.

"She's the real thing" said Ethan, attentively.

" _Erica_ " said Erica, introducing herself.

"I think you might just have a career in the theatre" said the woman. "Have you ever acted before?"

"Now I get it!" said Ethan.

"What?" asked Benny.

"Huh?" said Rory.

"I was lead in the school play last year" said Erica with faux-modesty, " _The Rainbow Factory_."

"High school?"

"Grade 12."

"Chicago?"

"No . . . Canada."

"I should have realized the accent. You're a Dusker?"

"I even dated Dirk Baddington."

"She should have kept quiet about that" Ethan told Benny.

"Before he had his little breakdown. But you, Erica, are real talent. If you're ever interested in pursuing a career as an actress."

"Well, I was _part of the drama club_ " Erica lied. "And I was going to take the _Fine Arts_ in univer . . . in college."

"Well, here's my contact. Remember to look me up. Remember it's who you know who helps you most. Can you read those lines again?"

Through this exchange, Sarah had an annoyed look. As in Ethan's vision. Ethan knew what Sarah was thinking. It was her dream to be an actress. And, as far as Ethan was concerned, Sarah was a _way better_ actress!

"I think you're _way_ better" Ethan said, while Sarah looked as Erica effused over her lines for the director.

Ethan impulsively gave Sarah a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Ethan" said Sarah. "I"d sooner be "discovered", if that's what you call it. But it's better for her. It's the one way she can give up wanting to become a vampire . . . and save face."

"After being scared off from actually wanting to be a vampire" Ethan said coldly. "Now, by taking this up, she _can't be_."

"Oh . . . I get it!" announced Rory.

"Keep it down" Ethan cautioned him.

"She wants to act, she can't be a vampire" said Rory, laughing. "She needs to get her picture taken."

"The last piece of the puzzle" said Benny.

"That's it" said Ethan. "And I'll tell you what will happen. She might have been a vampire, travelling the world, _bloodsucking_ , only writing and keeping in contact with to her BFF Sarah. Well, subtract vampire and _bloodsucking_ and substitute actress acting."

"Travelling the world and keeping in touch" said Sarah. "You know Ethan, it doesn't really matter but you can use actor too."

"It sounds funny" Benny said. "Girl actor."

"Grow up" Sarah replied.

But actor or actress, Ethan was right.

"So, are you gonna go for it?" asked Rory as Team Sabre plus Erica went out to wait for a cab.

"Even a dweeb like you has to know an opportunity like this doesn't come everyday" said Erica. "Of course, I'm going to stay in contact with Kate."

"You can't be a vamp" Sarah reminded her.

"Well, I'll find luxury and immortality another way" Erica announced. "I can't let my public down."

* * *

It was a satisfying end to a day in Chicago. Especially since the _Calgary Flames_ scorched the _Chicago Blackhawks_ 4-2.

* * *

The next day was uneventful. It featured an expensive breakfast, a long drive across Michigan with Ethan at the wheel, and they crossed the Ambassador Bridge and were back in Ontario. And an hour later, pulled off Highway 401 to 2B, and were on the road to Whitechapel.

Ethan arrived tired but triumphant to an unexpected hug from Jane. Rory was toppled by his evil-sniffing dog Krypto. Sarah settled for hugs from her parents, asking one last time about her "field trip". Erica bragged about her meeting.

Benny was disappointed when he came home. He had swiped the last copy of the "field trip" letter but his grandmother lifted it magically from his pocket.

"I don't think we need this anymore" Mrs. Weir said, ripping it up into several pieces. "Now, you have no chores to do, dear, Malcolm's finished them. Why don't you go see Della . . . but be back early. You have school tomorrow and you'll have lots of homework."

"I guess everything's back to _almost_ normal" said Benny wryly. "But maybe I should skip school. . . _Musetronics is_ _really_ going have trouble getting ready to play for that dance _._ "

"I don't think so" said Mrs. Weir sternly.

"The dance" said Benny with a smirk.

Benny thought about it. _Getting their band ready for the dance had been their one and only problem_ when the counterfeit curses had started a couple weeks ago.

Benny startled his grandmother by breaking into a fit of laughter.

 _To be continued._


	51. Life Becomes Awesome Again

**Life Becomes Awesome Again**

Even if you're an honour student, _especially_ if you're an honour student, missing a couple weeks of high school means a lot of pain when you get back and are suddenly forced to catch up. So that was what Ethan had to face the following morning.

On top of getting the band ready for the dance, nightmares and a major case of nerves.

Ethan went through some mood swings. Being seriously happy it was over and everything was back to normal, being irritable without much reason, and being set off by certain words or ideas that sparked his memory.

Ethan felt even more irritated with himself that he was the only one who seemed to be affected. _A little embarrassed really._

* * *

Monday night, Ethan's mother has eschewed a weird dish for more typical fare; roast beef, mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts.

Samantha had cooked the roast medium rare; Ethan ate it reluctantly and didn't exactly pig out on the Brussel sprouts.

Anything with the slightest blood in it was now _sickening_ to Ethan. He wistfully thought of his stay at Benny's (other) grandmother Irene Fishbine the summer before; who cooked everything well done.

"Are you okay, Ethan?" Samantha asked. "Ever since you came back from that _field trip_ of yours . . . _which I will never understand_ " Samantha looked at her husband Ross.

 _"I don't get it either_ " said Ross. "I don't see why we didn't ask your Principal some more questions."

Ethan mood swung to happy. The "field trip" spell had ended with his parents reacting after-the-fact the way they naturally would have.

"You've been nervous today" Samantha observed.

"I'm okay, Mom . . . Dad" Ethan said, as he went to get some mashed potatoes. "I just have some things to think over."

"It must be Sarah" said Jane mischievously, although she well knew what was bothering him.

"Get some meat, you're not going to live on mashed potatoes" said Ross. "You're sixteen, you're still a growing boy. You know, Ethan, I was thinking. When I was sixteen, that summer I went with twenty other guys on a camping and canoeing trip up north. You'll be seventeen this summer but . . . ."

And "up north" give Ethan a bad flashback. Ethan jumped in his skin. For the second time in his life, he threw a bowl of mashed potatoes atop his father's head.

* * *

Benny, for his part, was irritated . . . at all the homework and the fact that _Musetronics_ wasn't going to be able to make a lot of original songs. That didn't leave much room for Della, video games, TV and hanging out with his buddies.

And suddenly there was even less time. Benny video-talked with his mother for the first time in weeks . . . now he was no longer a pupil-less zombie with black, rotting eyes. Benny promised to spend the weekend with her and his grandmother. Not that he wasn't happy to go. _But_ this was the last weekend before the dance.

The next weekend, the one after the dance, Benny was spending valuable one-on-one time with his dad.

"Dude" said Benny to Ethan, with another video call, "I know I'm you're best friend, but _I'm up to my ears in stuff_."

Ethan shrugged.

"So am I" said Ethan. "I know you have your mom and dad. And _Della_ time."

"Are you taking things easy?" asked Benny.

"Nothing's the matter."

" _Lee-blain_ " said Benny in a deadpan tone, and watched Ethan flinch. "You can't do that in front of Sarah."

"I don't intend to" said Ethan.

"Still" said Benny, "you need _serious_ relaxing with your pals. Gaming and Blue Rays. Maybe all _Star Wars_ , with the added bonus of the original _Battlestar Galactica_."

"I like the re-imagined series better" Ethan reminded Benny. "And we just spent two weeks with Rory. He's a good pal, but too much Rory . . . ."

* * *

Since Ethan, Benny and Rory were taking the same classes, and that first week was very homework-heavy, Ethan did see more of his second-best friend. But as Rory was reasonably book-smart (only lacking in common sense), he was kept somewhat in check working through two weeks of assignments.

Rory had his own notion of PTSD therapy, which involved taking Krypto over to Ethan's house every-time. This was okay with Ethan, who was happier than he let on to have the "evil-detecting" dog jump all over him and lick his face.

Ethan dug up his now unneeded Hawaiian-scented flea shampoo and gave it to Rory.

* * *

The only problem was the Wednesday, when Krypto howled to be let out. The sound tore into Ethan's tense-mind like nails scraping on a blackboard.

* * *

Thursday, unusually, Ethan and Benny actually went to do their homework over at Rory's house. It typically made more sense to hangout at the Ethan's or Benny's, given they lived next to one another. But Jane had some friends over, and Malcolm was serving the rest of his sentence. Rory, being an only child, had a lot of room at his place. And quiet.

The Keener's had a ranch bungalow at the end of a street, a couple blocks away. The three sprawled out in the comfortable living room. Rory's father was out of town on business, while Rory's mother was grocery shopping.

Malcolm unexpectedly dropped in. He had finished his "sentence" with Evelyn Weir, a little earlier than expected. With the assurance of a rich kid, he sat in a recliner in front of the television, and leaned back.

Malcolm sat back up when Krypto growled.

"Good boy" said Rory. " _My dad likes that chair._ "

"I came to tell you I'm _visible forever_ " Malcolm bragged, getting up from the recliner. "You won't see my skeleton again until I'm good and dead."

"Not the man _I wanted to see right now_ " retorted Benny, annoyed as they had been piled with even more homework that afternoon. If you keep bragging, you might be good and dead sooner than you think."

"We decided to drop it" Ethan protested. "We're all even."

"All normal again" observed Malcolm, who decided to sit on a chair Krypto didn't object to. Malcolm added to Benny "And I've finished your chores for the better part of a month. From what I've heard, you got off easy compared to Ethan."

"If you call being a zombie with "Your . . . a . . . bellboy" ringing through your dead brain easy" Benny returned. "Grandma saved your life."

"Bellboys" said Ethan hollowly, and started a full-white eyed reliving of the attack of the five demons..

Krypto looked up, and began licking Ethan's face.

"Thanks, Krypto" said Ethan, recovering. "Look, we've decided that a vampire-possessed car and Rory's smelling leaking bandages . . . . ."

" _Back when_ I was a bloodsucker" Rory put in forcefully, with a humiliated look on his face.

". . . were good excuses for Malcolm's teaming-up with Stephanie."

"And the fact Stephanie looked like a innocent, hot, cheerleader" Benny admitted.

"Any problem with our expense accounts, BTW?" said Ethan. "You never replied to our email?"

"No problem" said Malcolm. "I think it's cool I got the _Challenger_ back . . . thought I'd never see it again." Malcolm added casually, "Ever thought of being a forensic accountant? Rory's dad could take you into the firm?"

"No" said Ethan bluntly.

"Even my dad thinks it's a bit of a yawn" Rory observed. "Ethan's dad is _really_ into insurance, Benny's dad is _really_ into being VP of sales at the plant, but my dad spends his time looking over the books of bankrupt companies . . . poking for where the cash went. But . . . he's sort of the next best thing to a _private eye_ " Rory ended forcefully defending his father.

"Yeah" Ethan conceded. "Your dad's job is awesome in its way. Sort of like a _private eye_."

"A private eye with thick glasses, a green eyeshade, and a pencil tucked above his ear" Benny joked, to Rory's annoyance.

"At least your dad works . . . he isn't the black sheep of the family" Malcolm complained. "There's a reason why we've been locked out until now . . . we've only now come into the Brunner money."

"Malcolm Brunner, grandson of Manafort Brunner" observed Benny sarcastically. "If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that . . . ."

Ethan suddenly burst into laughter; everybody else looked at him.

"Guys" he said. "You notice we're talking about our dads' jobs. A week ago we were obsessed with what kind of monster we were . . . or seven months ago with Rory."

"That's not funny" said Malcolm.

"No, I get it" joked Benny. "It was a regular _House of Morgan_. The Wolfman, meets the Zombie, meets Dracula, meet the Invisible Man."

"Meets the Windego" Rory added. "And the Invisible Man's evil twin."

"It would have been a rotten monster movie" Malcolm complained.

* * *

Ethan found himself looking forward to Friday night. He hadn't had much time to be with Sarah all week! Sarah too, had been buried in work. More so, as she was in her crucial Grade 12 year. Even with a free period, Sarah had barely been able to see Ethan except to give him (what Benny described) "a peck on the cheek, not any major canoodling". Sarah was Chair of the Yearbook committee, and school pictures were also coming up next week.

Ethan had hoped that Sarah would break her tradition of eating lunch with Erica. No luck! Now that Erica had finally (and unexpectedly) turned her mind from being a vampire again to being star of stage (and maybe screen), Sarah wasn't going to let her get bitter and backtrack.

Still, Sarah too had seen the mental strain the recent adventure had placed on Ethan. Ethan's eyes looked slightly bloodshot, and he looked slightly drawn as he hadn't had much appetite.

"I'm okay" said Ethan, as he dug a silver coin out of his pocket to demonstrate. This time it was a 1946 dime. He spun it casually, as the schooner the Bluenose alternated with the head of George VI.

"No burns" Ethan announced, as the coin fell heads-up.

"I don't you think you want the Bluenose tattooed on your palm" Sarah joked. "You're more the spaceship type."

"That's true" said Ethan.

"So are really you going to go through with it?" asked Sarah.

"I said I would" Ethan replied. "You don't mind?"

"I'll tell you the truth . . . think it's unbelievably geeky, Ethan" said Sarah, with a laugh.

But it was a very laugh very unlike that of Stephanie's. It was, or so Ethan understood it, a " _you would do something like that, wouldn't you?_ Just like Sarah had laughed when Ethan wondered why the cook at the _Casa de Ajo_ hadn't been wearing a tall chef's hat.

"Even if you, Benny and Rory love the show, it's unbelievably geeky. But if you promised, wear your Battleship Galaxy jacket."

 _"_ A vintage _Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warrior jacket_ " Ethan said. "And it is _cool_. Just . . . not too many people think so."

"It'll look just like a slightly-weird jacket in your picture in the yearbook" said Sarah, with a shrug. "But you're going to be laughed at all day."

"A geek's got to do, what a geek's got to do" Ethan joked.

"That reminds me. I heard Tom Towers might wear his cowboy hat" said Sarah.

"I guess when you can pound anyone's face into mush you're cool no matter what you wear" Ethan joked.

"For guys, that's how it works" said Sarah. "I like Tom . . . as a friend. He's a nice guy, but I prefer a guy with brains."

This seemed to be a signal for Ethan to put his arm around Sarah, as Jane had already gone to bed after being bribed with a large helping of ice cream and cake.

Ethan and Sarah went through the channels on the television, briefly stopping at a teen drama where the leads were on a prom date.

"Do girls really think about the prom . . . way in advance?" said Ethan, curiously.

"Mostly" said Sarah. "But I know it'll be the end of high school. I think I deserve to enjoy what's left of it until then, just being a girl."

"I think I know what you mean" said Ethan.

"That's more than I can say for other guys I've dated" said Sarah.

"I don't want to talk about the other guys" Ethan replied forcefully.

"Relax, Ethan" said Sarah. "You might be the guy I go to the prom with . . . twice."

"Your prom . . . and my prom" said Ethan. "You can do that?"

"I don't know" Sarah admitted, as she turned the channel. "I haven't been thinking about it that much. There is one thing I've been considering . A question that's been on my mind this week. We've never had time . . . even to think about it or to turn it over before."

They began to discuss an ethical matter, something amongst their friends only they'd would discuss. Ethan knew Benny would give a variation of "to heck with them." Rory would be "to heck with even thinking about it." Sarah knew Erica would laugh at the thought of discussing the matter.

"Should we be sorry for Jesse and Stephanie?" Sarah said.

Ethan looked stricken for a moment, and shaded his eyes as they threatened to make him go into a full-seer-mode flashback; but Ethan recovered.

"I . . . don't know" said Ethan, reflectively. "My great-great grandfather seemed very . . . stern about . . . it. Not happy, not sad."

Ethan and Sarah discussed it. Jesse and Stephanie had been the cause of a lot of torture in the past two and a half years. And their activities _before_ were nothing but trouble. And their future plans would have led to mass-murder. So, as for regretting stopping them, _NO WAY_!

But their fate?

As soon as Jesse was released, he had watched and mocked Ethan as he turned into a werewolf. Then Jesse had gone on to _literally_ steal Rory's life, and try to trick Sarah into falling for him.

"He was a creep . . . probably a psychopath" said Ethan bluntly. "He only ever considered himself. It was _only_ during the seance Jesse seemed to feel anything like remorse. And even then . . . he wanted to torment me because, by tricking Stern into overloading the lucifractor, I aged him to death . . .man, that's another thing. Jesse rotting to death."

"It's tough to have anything but hate for Jesse" said Sarah, as she looked at Ethan's sickly expression. "I don't think he's ever done anything right . . . in life or death."

"I didn't feel sorry for Coach Ed being pulled into the Locker of the Night" admitted Ethan. "I was really happy. But Ed had just finished torturing me, and was threatening to torture me for the rest of my life."

"Stephanie had a chance . . . one that she trashed" Sarah observed.

"Mrs. Weir undid Stephanie's first deal" added Ethan contemptuously. "All she had to be was a lunch-lady, no one even recognized her from before. And . . . you know, the other lunch-ladies are actually _really_ nice."

"They are, but I don't really want to work in a school cafeteria when I'm older" Sarah admitted.

"Yeah, but who laughs at the lunch lady?" said Ethan. "Besides Stephanie? But . . . I can't help remembering how in her last moments she was desperate for help."

Ethan's face notably went pale, as he once again saw the five demons in front of him.

This time, Sarah shook Ethan out of his flashback.

"What bothers you the most?" Sarah asked abruptly, as she studied Ethan's expression.

"Nothing" Ethan lied hurriedly. "It's over."

"Look, Ethan" said Sarah. "You don't have to pretend to be unaffected. You know people from all walks of life get PTSD, why should you be different? This month you'll been pulled apart into every way imaginable."

"Well, having Malcolm's evil twin point a shotgun at me. Being burnt by silver. Turning into werewolf . . . _everything I did as a werewolf_ , especially any kills I made with my teeth and claws. And finally the demons _that tried to pull me down_ into the door in the floor . . and I . . . _just want to stop thinking about it, now that's it over_ " Ethan admitted. "Or complaining to you. _I just wish I could handle it better._ "

This gave Sarah what she had hoped for . . . an opening.

"Maybe next time you're turned into a werewolf or come face-to-face with demonic bellhops you won't think about it or complain?" joked Sarah.

"Or I'll just not be a werewolf" Ethan replied. "Or come face-to-face with demonic bellhops."

They laughed.

"But you still might want to put it on paper" said Sarah. "This isn't exactly something you can go to a psychiatrist about it."

Nor was Sarah's ethical question about what they _should_ feel about the fate of Jesse and Stephanie's fate.

Eventually, the two came to the conclusion that they couldn't honestly feel sorry for Stephanie or for Jesse, at least not yet. They had just caused too much trouble. Yet, Ethan and Sarah realized they couldn't be, and shouldn't be, happy about Jesse and Stephanie's terrible fate.

"At least Erica's changed her mind about her life" Ethan observed. "Are you okay with her lucking her way into fame?"

"It's way better than her wanting to be a vampire" Sarah replied. "And it's not changing my plans. In a way, it confirmed them"

From here, the conversation went on to more mundane, but more enjoyable topics. Sarah decided that she was definitely going to go for a Fine Arts Degree. At least initially.

"I can see where it takes me" said Sarah. "I might go into acting, or I might be able to go into writing, television, architecture."

"That sounds awesome" said Ethan. "What school? You know, if you go to Western you can commute?"

"I don't know yet" said Sarah. "I'll think about. I was actually thinking of going away for university."

Sarah knew enough that when Ethan asked "what school" with the _non-supernatural_ gleam in his brown eyes, Ethan was thinking about following her there the next year.

* * *

Sarah thought it was romantic. Not the least bit "stalking", as Erica told her at the Grade 9 dance the next week.

Sarah and Erica had been taking pictures, for a fee, outside the gym as the "newbs" went to the dance. The money they raised went to the yearbook committee. Hannah and Della were around too, but they were filming the dance itself.

As time went on, the traffic in the hall outside the gym had ground to a halt and Sarah and Erica were left alone and had a good deal of time, and privacy, to talk.

"It's okay when girls go to the same university" Erica said. "But Ethan should learn to respect your boundaries."

"Going to the same university isn't breaking some invisible boundary" Sarah scoffed. "Not if Ethan and I are dating. You know, Erica. I'm getting to be as serious about Ethan as he is about me. I'd like to have him around."

"What do you mean _almost_?" said Erica. "How serious is he about you?"

"I _know_ Ethan has the _romantic_ idea that I'm the only girl for him" said Sarah. "I think he might be the guy. I've been thinking it as early as last summer, but now I think he may be the one."

"Are you crazy?" said Erica. "Who talks like that? You're seventeen!"

" _You used to talk like that_ " Sarah pointed out. "And I'm not saying he _definitely_ is the guy. But, you hear about high school sweethearts getting married. It might be us. But, even though we're human, we're still teens and we have a long time to figure it out. I'm not a seer, but I can feel _he might be the guy_."

"Have you considered that you and Ethan might break up . . . and you'll be trapped with Ethan at the same university?" Erica said.

"I don't think we'll be breaking up" said Sarah, as she closed the camera and locked it up. "But I realize we could. But we'll be two among thousands of students. And face it, Ethan'll follow me to university, but he's not going to take the Fine Arts.

"He's in a band now" said Erica.

"Let's listen to _Musetronics_ " Sarah said in reply.

* * *

Benny was at the drums, while Ethan and Rory were at the synthesizers. Rory's hit rap from last time had begun the night, followed by Ethan's computer-generated hit. After that, _Musetronics_ began to play other bands' hits. The all-original hit idea had faded in the face of the two weeks in the north, Benny's visit to his mother, and a mountain of homework.

Well, almost. Sarah and Erica arrived in time to hear an original number called _Weir Awesome_ that was heavy on the drums and dedicated to Della.

Sarah noticed that Ethan looked the best he had since he returned home; his eyes were no longer bloodshot. But Ethan did tired, as if he had recently suffered a strain. He was happy, grinning as he played.

Benny looked proud. Why not? This was the moment in high school he always wanted! He was playing in a band in front of a cheering crowd! Including _his girl_! It was like he was guzzling gallons of coffee, he felt so good

Rory, long having been able to use a mirror, hadn't been tricked by Benny into adopting a ridiculous hairstyle. He did have his bat necklace, although he now called himself MC Rorster. In attitude, though, he looked "the Rorster" through and through.

The three were dressed in brown military-style jackets with gunbelts and matching brown-grey pants.

"At least their costumes are cool this time" said Erica.

Sarah laughed.

"What is it?"

"Those are the geeky Battleship . . . _Battlestar_ uniforms Rory had them get for class pictures tomorrow."

"Don't correct yourself" said Erica, irritably. "Only losers have ever even _heard_ of show. Are you sure you consider Ethan . . . _the guy up there_ as boyfriend material? Ethan's a good guy in his own way . . . he's proven that to me. But that doesn't mean my BFF _can't do so much better. I know you Sarah._ Someday, just once, you might want Ethan to do something romantic for you. You need a romantic guy. Ethan might love you with all his _geeky_ heart but he'll never be able to give you romance. He can never be _the guy_."

"I think he may be" Sarah repeated. "Ethan's romantic in his way."

"Is he romantic in _your_ way?" challenged Erica.

And it was that _very moment_ Ethan proved he _was_ romantic in "Sarah's way". Ethan had also managed to write a new song.

Ethan sang it without a single growl . . . though Benny was slightly too energetic with his drums. And Rory, with nothing to do for this particular song, leaned back, stretched, grinned, and listened:

 _All the pinups in magazines_

 _Movie stars on the silver screen_

 _Don't do anything for me_

 _Can't you see_

 _What you get is what you see_

 _No more maybe it's Maybelline_

 _She can give you everything you need_

 _She's the girl next door_

 _Nice but naughty_

 _A heart that's pure_

 _She's the girl next door_

 _Just for me_

 _You can take her home to Mom_

 _Cause she's got that small-town charm_

 _That glows anytime you want and more_

 _And you know she's your biggest fan_

 _Cause she'll cancel her plans_

 _Give you everything she can till the end_

 _Till the end_

 _She's the girl next door_

 _Nice but naughty_

 _A heart that's pure_

 _She's the girl next door_

 _Just for me_

 _She's the girl next door_

 _Nice but naughty_

 _A heart that's pure_

 _She's the girl next door_

 _Just for me . . . ._

"Ethan is _definitely_ romantic in his way" said Sarah.

"As your BFF, _I know when to give up_ " said Erica loftily, but more to herself than Sarah. "I just have to let it take its course. I . . . actually like that skinny little geek."

Erica crossed her arms. The song was definitely a hit, and Ethan and Sarah were visibly beaming at one another from across the gymnasium.

"Maybe _someday_ it could be okay" said Erica under her breath, as she walked to the door. "But for now Sarah can do _so much better_.

 _All the pinups in magazines_. . . .

Ethan began an encore, with an even more energetic Benny on the drums . . . .

* * *

Erica walked out in the hall thinking she that might take another picture. Or even sneaking out entirely, and having Sarah cover for her. But the memory of the demons made that plan seem less tempting.

" _What's next?_ " sighed Erica. "Rory getting a girlfriend."

As if on cue, the swinging door to the stage pushed open. Rory, with a look on his face that was both _very_ happy and _very_ surprised, was being kissed on the lips by one of the newbs, a blonde and blue eyed girl.

" _Yeah, I'm cool_ " Rory bragged. " _Musetronics,_ Prankee, I've done it all. Uh . . . some stuff that I'd even like to forget doing."

"She's in Grade 9" interrupted Erica.

" _I'm only one and a half years_ younger than him" said the girl. "He's a Virgo, I'm a Capricorn."

"And she's got a cool new boyfriend" Rory bragged, as he escorted the girl back to the stage. "By the way, _what's your name?_ "

"Now _that relationship_ " said Erica. "I give a week _._ "

 **TO BE CONCLUDED**


	52. Again, In Ethan-Vision

**AGAIN IN ETHAN-VISION**

Ethan Morgan here again.

And that's the story of the worst few weeks of my life. Ending of course with _Musetronics_ playing for the Grade 9 dance, and our school photos. That was awesome, no magic required.

Most of the story up to this point was magically-written . . . with me staring into space, white-glowing seer eyes and using a spellbound-goose quill of Evelyn Weir's. A bottle of normal blue ink, BTW. Only the dark side, the forces of evil, use blood for ink.

Seriously though, that goose-feather quill wrote so fast most of the pages ended up with scorch-marks! In the end, Mrs. Weir gave me a bowl of water to soak away a serious case of writer's cramp! As for what I saw, it was like being in a trance. So, I was at max power . . . _awesome in its way_. . . . but didn't remember anything except from my own "normal" memory.

A good thing too, because it ended up being told, with what they call in English "a third person omniscient narration". I think I can imagine what Sarah would say if she found out I was reading her mind. That's why this is going to be wrapped up in several layers of brown packaging and placed under the eaves up in my attic. No one but me's going to know where, and I'm not looking. After last summer's mental trip-to-the-future, I know that there's some things I'm better off not seeing.

Writing it down did work to ease me up, like everyone told me (I forgot to mention at the start, even _Malcolm_ suggested it last week). Because I'm a detailed kind of guy, I know there's a few things post-dance I need to add . . . just to make this complete.

* * *

After another week, we managed to clear our homework. Benny complained to me that his grandmother could have easily made her "field trip" note clear us of having to catch up, but Mrs. Weir wanted us to do the work we were supposed to do.

"I guess she just wants us to earn our credits."

"Ethan, dude" said Benny, "don't you think that _we deserved_ a break?

I shrugged.

Yeah, but deep down, I think Benny was right. I would have loved to waive away all our course-work and maybe have taken a week off to have practised for the dance.

* * *

Rory's girl, Chantal, dumped him after about a week. Sarah thinks Chantal went with him because she thought Rory was a cool sixteen-year old guy. Rory's sixteen, but he's not cool. But Rory bounced-back by the end of that day. He says it gives him "bragging rights". Rory has several pictures of him with Chantal. Plus Rory's managed to book Musetronics for a fundraiser for the petting zoo where he used to volunteer.

"Sooner or later, a girl's going to fall for the Rorster _for_ the Rorster" Rory told Benny and me when we were chilling' that Saturday after a light sabre duel.

"She'll be the hottest girl in the old age home" Benny joked. " _You'll go shopping for his and her canes._ Share a bottle of prune juice."

"Warp 10 Butthead" Rory shot back.

I have a feeling it won't take one tenth as long, even for "the Rorster." But like I said, I'm not going to make the mistake of trying to look into the future to see for sure.

* * *

Last Monday, the sixteenth, was tough for me. It was the night that finally convinced me I needed to write out the story. Tuesday 9:28 am was the full moon, so that Monday was the "waxing" full moon night. You'd think I want to celebrate that night. But, man, I was nervous when I just looked at the moon out the window. I went outside in my jacket, gloves and tuque, looked up at the moon and just stood there for a minute. I took off my gloves and stretched out my fingers.

I thought going out under the full moon, watching nothing happen and feeling nothing would calm me down.

"Aren't you cold?" asked Jane, as she went outside and stood beside me.

"I guess I am" I said casually, as I put my gloves back on and shoved my hands in my pockets.

"Does it scare you?"

"No, he's taking a victory lap" Benny said, as he entered the yard. "Ethan, don't let it bother you. An ice cold Monday night, last week of school before Christmas Vacation, time to watch _Gun on Ice Planet Zero_! Clones, some massive artillery, and Cylons will get your mind to better things.

"I'm thinking more a combo of _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _The Return of the Jedi._ "

Benny shrugged. "Well you choose, young Padawan. The force is strong with this one"

We ended up watching the movies. But we were up to nearly midnight.

First, we were interrupted by some howling. It was Krypto howling at the moon; Rory had also walked over. So, we had to start the movie again. Next, Sarah drove up _with Erica_. Erica complained about the _Star Wars_ , but half-watched while she texted someone on her phone. Then even _Malcolm_ showed up (in the _Camaro_ ), so we started again and ordered a pizza. Malcolm paid . . . I don't know how he heard about my major case of nerves, but he looked sort of guilty.

But . . . it's good to have friends.

* * *

This brings me back to where I was at the start. Friday, December 20, as I went over to Sarah's tonight, to say goodbye before she left. The snow was over and the roads were cleared. Sarah's going with her parents to the South of France and she's way excited.

I don't know, and I'll never know, where she went when she took off after Jesse _tricked_ her to go full vamp for a year - to save me. But I know it didn't count. It's no surprise, and it doesn't bother her in the least to spend the time with her parents. Like Sarah told me, she wants to enjoy life as a teen girl.

Sarah's mom answered the door. She's a bit short, like Sarah, but has a very soft voice. You can see by the face that she's Sarah's mom.

"Hi, Mrs. Fox" I said. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Ethan."

Sarah ready?" I asked.

"Sarah's been waiting for you" she said, as I went in.

I caught Sarah's relaxing by the fire in her living room reading some tour books. We were just talking.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" she laughed.

"No" I said, a little too loudly.

"I'm really happy for you" I said honestly.

"I know you are, but you think some French guy's going to pick me up" Sarah joked. "Well, Ethan, I can promise you I won't let him. I don't do 6000 kilometre long distance relationships."

We laughed.

I don't think I'm "crazy jealous". But jealousy _might_ be something I need to work on.

"Just don't pick up a Jamaican girl" Sarah added.

We laughed again.

But face it, there's way more of a chance of a guy trying to pick up Sarah than girls falling over me.

I am going to Jamaica at the end of the month. Benny had put in an invite for Rory and me to his mother's wedding, day after Boxing Day. Benny was to be his step-dad's best man. We were invited, as Benny explained his mom realized we weren't only best friends but "comrades in arms".

For awhile, Sarah talked about France and I talked about Jamaica.

Then: "Did you look by the window" Sarah said.

Mistletoe.

Our kiss was interrupted by Sarah's dad.

He's a tall, dark guy who's grey around the temples. Speaking of "comrades in arms", Sarah's dad even walks like a soldier. I think he went to the RMC in Kingston and was a Lieutenant for a few years.

"Ethan, mind helping me in the garage with the luggage. I've been having some back trouble"

I went. I started to wonder if this was set up between Sarah and her dad before. Then I felt as if I was going to get a vision of exactly what that was. I closed my eyes and got _that_ under control _fast_.

Not that I mind. Maybe I wish my entire life was normal . . . in a perfect world. But it's enough to be a human being whose life is normal 98% of the time.

* * *

Mr. Fox watched me while I put the suitcases in the family's blue Ford Expedition.

"You know, Ethan, I didn't approve of you at first. I thought Sarah could do so much better."

When we started dating last summer, Sarah's dad turned the porch lights on and off if I stayed too long at the door.

I became a little angry. Probably not the best thing.

"I know the guys Sarah dated before me" I said angrily. "They . . . you wouldn't believe what they were in to."

I finished lamely.

"I believe it" said Sarah's dad. "That other jerk . . . Jesse. At the time, he oozed a good impression. Should have known he was just polishing the apple . . . a suckup."

Sarah's dad chuckled.

"Jesse had this crazy hangup where he'd stand waiting at the front door and wait to be let in the couple times he came over. We thought he was polite."

"I wouldn't invite him in" I muttered as I struggled with the last suitcase.

"Believe or not, I compared you to him. And you know what, Ethan? I realized you're genuine. I've seen how happy Sarah's been these last six or seven months. How she looks at you. There's a lot worse she can do than an ambitious, honour student . . . who's awkward and should be in the gym more and in front of the computer less."

Sarah's dad clapped me on the shoulder.

"Come on, Ethan" said Sarah's dad. "Call me Doug. You can probably guess Sarah and the wife put me up to this. You didn't come here to see me. Come in, and we'll give you some real eggnog before we leave."

* * *

I stayed for a few glasses of eggnog, and another trip beneath the mistletoe. Then I watched Sarah and her parents leave in the Expedition.

* * *

I'm typing this from my room, the brown packaging is beside me. After I finish these last couple sentences, it's time to wrap these pages up and stuff them in an attic corner where I think it'll be ten, twenty years before it's ever seen again. By that time, it won't matter if I read what Sarah, Benny, Rory, Erica, Mrs. Weir, Della, Malcolm, Roger, or even Tom Towers were doing or thinking last month.

But, as for me, what's my final message to anyone reading? _Life is awesome._

 **THE END**

* * *

Author's Notes

And that's the end of the story, with a return to Ethan's first person narration for this final chapter . . . as promised. It ends with life for Ethan, his buddies, his girlfriend, and even Erica, as close to perfect you can get.

This is also the end of the miniseries. In chronological order, the stories are: (1) The End of the Beginning (2) Ethan to the Future (3) Good v. Evil or Some Assembly Required (4) Busman's Holiday (5) Attack of the Gremlins; and (6) The Case of the Counterfeit Curses.

Personally, I'd rank them from favourite to least favourite as: (1) The End of the Beginning (2) Busman's Holiday (3) Ethan to the Future (4) Attack of the Gremlins (5) The Case of the Counterfeit Curses; and (6) Good v. Evil or Some Assembly Required.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and it's an honour to have been followed/favourited. I would like to again add a special thanks to MBAV fan66 for her awesome chapter-by-chapter reviews.


End file.
